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PROCEEDINGS 

OF 

THE VARICK COURT OF INQUIRY 



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Copyrighted, 1907, by 

The Bibliophile Society 

All rights reserved 

^15 A-3 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED 

Page 

1778. March Varick's oath of allegiance to the U. S., 6g 

1780. Aug. 5 Arnold's letter offering the secretaryship to 

Varick, 82 

1780. Aug. 7 Varick's letter accepting the appointment, 83 

1780. Aug. 14 Varick to Colonel Hay, on reasons for ac- 
ceptance, 85 

1780. Aug. 17 Arnold's letter to Governor Clinton, on flags, 89 

1780. Aug. 22 Clinton's reply to Arnold, 90 

1780. Aug. 24 Varick to Colonel Benson, on flags, and 

Joshua Hett Smith, 92 

1780. Aug. 30 Arnold to Anderson (Andr^) " Gustavus " 

letter, 102 

1780. Sept. I Arnold to Colonel Sheldon, on the emissary 

(Andre), 106 

1780. Sept. 3 Arnold to Mr. Stephens, to hurry provisions, 193 

1780. Sept. 4 Arnold to Colonel Livingston, on repelling 

British (facsimile), 194 

1780. Sept. 7 Arnold to Colonel Sheldon, on the emissary 

(Andre), 107 

1780. Sept. 7 John Anderson (Andr^) to Colonel Sheldon, 

on his mission, 109 

1780. Sept. 8 Arnold to General Parsons, on getting intel- 
ligence (facsimile), 196 

1780. Sept. 8 Arnold (per Varick) to Washington, on with- 
drawing troops, 198 

1780. Sept. 9 Colonel Sheldon to Arnold, on the emissary, 108 

5 



1780. 


Sept. 


10 


1780. 


Sept. 


12 


1780. 


Sept. 


13 


1780. 


Sept. 


13 


1780. 


Sept. 


14 


1780. 


Sept. 


14 


1780. 


Sept. 


16 


1780. 


Sept. 


16 


1780. 


Sept. 


19 


1780. 


Sept. 


"9 


1780. 


Sept. 


19 


1780. 


Sept. 


26 


1780. 


Oct. 


I 


1780. 


Oct. 


8 


1780. 


Oct. 


15 


1780. 


Oct. 


16 


1780. 


Oct. 


16 


1780. 


Oct. 


16 


1780. 


Oct. 


17 


1780. 


Oct. 


17 



Arnold to Colonel Sheldon, on Anderson 

(Andre), and " Gustavus " letter, in 

Arnold to General Greene (facsimile) 199 

Arnold (per Varick) to Colonel Sheldon, on 

" Gustavus " letter, and suspicions, 200 

Arnold to Major Tallmadge, on Anderson 

(Andre), 113 

Arnold to Washington, on the general coun- 
cil against offensive operations (facsimile), 203 
Washington to Arnold, on bargemen, etc., 

(facsimile), 201 

Arnold (per Varick) to Colonel Lamb, on the 

two guns, 205 

Arnold (per Varick) to Washington, 202 

Arnold (per Varick), text of passes to women, 207 
Arnold to Colonel Livingston, on the two 

guns (facsimile), 206 

Colonel Benson's reply to Varick, on flags, 

and Smith, 96 

Washington to Judge-Advocate Lawrence, 

on the treason (facsimile), 208 

Varick to his sister, on the treason, 189 

Colonel Butler to John Montgomery, on the 

treason (facsimile), aog 

Letter from General Schuyler to the Court of 

Inquiry (facsimile), 67 

Washington to Governor Clinton, on High- 
land garrison (facsimile), 212 
Deposition of Captain Henry Sewall, 71 
Certificate of General Parsons, 73 
Certificate of General St. Clair, 74 
Colonel Harrison's certificate, on " Gusta- 
vus " letter, 105 

6 



1780. Oct. 17 Mrs. Martin's deposition, 157 

1780. Oct. 18 Deposition of the Rev. Dyrck Romeyn, 76 

1780. Oct. 19 Certificate of General Paterson, 75 

1780. Oct. 21 Colonel Harrison's deposition, on Varick's 

character and behaviour, 113 

1780. Oct. 21 Colonel Mead's deposition, on Varick's char- 
acter and behaviour, 115 
1780. Oct. 22 General Knox's deposition, on Varick's char- 
acter and behaviour (facsimile), 117 
1780. Oct. 22 Ass't Commissary Marshall's certificate, 159 
1780. Oct. 26 General Parsons's certificate, on Heron, 

bearer of the " Gustavus " letter, 99 

Heron's deposition, on " Gustavus" letter, 102 
General Heath's order for Court of Inquiry, 

designating members, 52 

Court ordered to sit on the 3rd, 53 

Varick's opening address, 54 ; renewal of 
argument, 75 ; address as to joining Ar- 
nold, 81 ; address, on Arnold's conduct, 
87 ; closing argument, summing up, 162. 
Dr. Eustis's testimony, 137 

Colonel Lamb's testimony, 147 

Reference to Arnold's memorandum book, 

Commissary Tripp's testimony, 155 

Major Franks's testimony, 120 

Deposition of Major Nicholas Fish, 65 

1780. Nov. 16 Washington's (per Scammel) approval of the 

finding of the Court of Inquiry (facsimile), 165 
1780. Nov. 19 Franks's interrogatories to Colonel Varick, 167 



1780. 


Oct. 


26 


1780. 


Oct. 


3J 


1780. 


Nov. 


2 


1780. 


Nov. 


3 



1780. 


Nov. 


4 


1780. 


Nov. 


5 


1780. 


Nov. 


5 


1780. 


Nov. 


5 


1780. 


Nov. 


5 



View of the famous King's Mountain Battle-ground 
vhere Major Ferguson f British) with iioo marauder, 
—mostly tones — were annihilated by abpdy of enragei- 
patriots. This was shortly after the disastrous defeat 
of the Continental Army in the South, August i6, 1780 
ind just one year and two days later, the British sur- 
rendered at Yorktown. 

This view is' from the foot of the hill where th; 
hottest of the fight occurred. The North slope of th 
eminence is seen on the left. In the foreground, o. 
the right, is shown the great tulip-tree upon which 
tradition says, ten tories were hung. 



The original draft of the Proceedings from 
which this volume is printed is entirely in 
the handwriting of the principal character, 
Colonel Richard Varick ; it now forms a part 
of the vast collection of original manuscripts 
belonging to Mr. William K. Bixby, to whom 
the members are indebted for the exclusive 
privilege of issuing in convenient book form 
this valuable contribution to the early his- 
tory of our country, relating to one of the 
great pivotal incidents of the Revolution. 

Mr. Bixby has collected many important 
contemporary autograph letters bearing upon 
this epoch, though not included in the evi- 
dence (among them the last from Washing- 

9 



ton to Arnold, and the last from Arnold to 
Washington, before the discovery of the 
treason, the first of which is herein repro- 
duced in facsimile), and these, with edito- 
rial comments, are printed in the Second 
Part of the volume. The members are there- 
fore permitted to share the enjoyment of the 
results of many years of research, and the 
expenditure of many thousands of dollars in 
bringing together the material from which 
it was possible to produce this volume. 

THE COUNCIL 



NEW LIGHT ON ARNOLD'S TREASON 
FROM THE VARICK PAPERS 

BY ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, LL. D. 

PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY 

Few subjects in American history have 
been so thoroughly sifted as the treason of 
General Benedict Arnold in 1780. The first- 
hand material includes the proceedings of 
two courts martial (one on Andre and one 
on Smith); the correspondence of Washing- 
ton, Hamilton, Lamb and other people who 
were at West Point on the day of discovery ; 
the memoirs of other military men and 
civilians who were cognizant of the facts ; 
Arnold's own braggadocio statements ; Clin- 
ton's account of his relation to the affair; 
and other significant evidence. Three bio- 
graphers of Arnold and two of Andre have 
minutely searched the field, and it would 
seem impossible that any considerable body 
of documents could still remain unused. Yet 

II 



for a century and a quarter there has been 
in existence a quantity of manuscript col- 
lected by Colonel Richard Varick, who was 
military secretary to Arnold at the time of 
the treason, and which appears to have been 
overlooked by the writers on the affair. It is 
this material which forms the present volume 
in the series of the publications of The Bib- 
liophile Society. 

We owe this collection to Varick's saga- 
cious intention to secure his own reputation 
against any possibility of suspicion that he 
was in collusion with Arnold, by demanding 
a court of inquiry, the proceedings of which 
were transcribed in his own hand, together 
with many valuable letters which were pre- 
sented in the evidence ; and he added other 
autograph letters and transcripts bearing 
upon his case. These documents were care- 
fully preserved by Varick throughout his life, 
passed into the hands of his nephew, Abra- 
ham Varick, and eventually became the pro- 
perty of Mr. William K. Bixby, by whose 
kind permission they are placed at the dis- 
posal of The Bibliophile Society. A tran- 
script of a part of the material appears to 

12 



have drifted into other quarters, where about 
twenty years ago it was found by Mr. H. P. 
Johnston, who wrote an article in the Maga- 
zine of American History, including some 
extracts from the testimony before the court, 
and vague allusions may be found here and 
there in the secondary writers to informa- 
tion derived from the Varick papers : but it 
does not appear that till now any investiga- 
tor has ever carefully examined this material. 
Comparison with the printed documents of 
the period seems to establish that the pro- 
ceedings of the court have never before been 
printed, and that most of the appended letters 
cannot be found in any of the collections of 
material on the treason, or in the memoirs 
and correspondence of the principal men of 
the period. 

These papers, therefore, are substantially 
a new contribution to the history of the im- 
portant Arnold affair; while they do not 
materially alter the accepted views as to the 
inception and progress of Arnold's treach- 
ery or the manner of discovery, they enlarge 
and illuminate our knowledge ; and on sev- 
eral important questions — notably Arnold's 

13 



effort to secure an interview with a British 
representative, the " Gustavus " letter of 
August 30, 1780, the guilt of Joshua Hett 
Smith, and the innocence of Mrs. Arnold — 
they furnish new evidence. 

The best way to bring out the significance 
of the Varick papers will be briefly to re- 
view the history of Arnold's treason and to 
notice the bearing of the new material on 
the successive episodes of the story. This is 
substantially the method which Varick him- 
self follows in the interesting letter to his 
sister of October i, 1780 : " I now set myself 
down to my Pen and paper to give you a 
small Detail of the most painful Scenery and 
the black Secret Transactions of my late 
Bosom Friend and social Companion, but 
now the execrably perfidious and Treacher- 
ous Parracide, the late Major-General Ben- 
edict Arnold, of infamous Memory." 

Notwithstanding the numerous studies of 
Benedict Arnold's character, he still remains 
one of the contradictions of American his- 
tory : proud and despicable ; brave as a lion, 
and thin-skinned as an eel ; exasperatingly 
obstinate, yet willing to yield up all his prin- 

14 



ciples ; a natural leader of men, yet always 
in hot water with his military contempora- 
ries ; friend and confidant of Washington, 
yet ready to betray his general for a price, — 
Arnold was a puzzle to the men of his time 
and is still an unsolved mystery. Yet there 
is a key to his conduct ; the disintegration 
of character which led to the treason can 
be traced far back. Arnold was not only a 
general but a financial adventurer, who put 
little or no money into the Revolution and 
felt himself entitled to take a great deal out. 
He spent for his own purposes funds placed 
in his hands for the public use; to recoup 
himself relied upon claims which were 
never allowed by the United States; and 
thus plunged himself into debt from which 
he saw little prospect of relief except in sell- 
ing himself to the highest bidder. 

Arnold, born in 1740, as a mere boy fought 
in the French and Indian war, then went 
into business, and was once a bankrupt; but 
on the news of the battle of Lexington he 
at once threw himself into the Revolution, 
and for three years showed himself the bold- 
est of the bold, — a brave, unflinching and 

15 



successful soldier, a good fighting man and 
a skilful strategist. Nevertheless, in every 
campaign he involved himself in two kinds 
of difficulties: with his accounts, and with his 
fellow officers. Though a Connecticut man, 
in his first campaign he was commissioned 
as colonel by Massachusetts and sent out to 
take Ticonderoga. There he had his initial 
clash, — a contest for rank and command 
with Ethan Allen, — but though obliged to 
take a second place he showed characteristic 
boldness by fighting like a lion at Allen's 
side. Characteristically, also, his papers 
were in confusion ; and when a committee 
of the Massachusetts legislature called for 
an accounting he protested and resigned, 
and set up a plea of ingratitude and ill us- 
age which was to become familiar in his 
mouth. 

In his Quebec expedition of 1775-76 again 
he showed a vigor of conception, a perti- 
nacity and a power to influence men which 
were rare among the unskilled officers of 
the time ; and he also received a severe 
wound, which, it must be confessed, was 
thenceforward an asset habitually put for- 

16 



ward whenever he had a contention. The 
Canadian expedition, besides the mortifica- 
tion of its eventual failure (for reasons quite 
beyond Arnold's control), brought upon him 
three controversies. He ordered the seizure 
of the goods of the Montreal merchants, 
and when a resulting court martial which 
was sitting on one of his subordinates did 
not agree with him, he genially offered to 
fight the members of the court ; he pre- 
vented a court of inquiry asked for by one 
of his officers who had brought charges 
against him, and after the campaign was 
over the treasury officials of the United 
States found in his accounts such extrava- 
gant allowances to himself that they de- 
clined to pass them ; and for the four years 
from 1776 to 1780 held up his pay, because 
of the large amounts claimed against him 
by the government. 

Washington apparently accepted Arnold's 
explanations on this disagreeable business 
and used every exertion with Congress to 
secure promotion for him, declaring that 
" surely a more active, a more spirited, and 
sensible officer fills no department of your 

17 



army." Eventually he received the coveted 
major-generalship, in spite of a very strong 
undercurrent of suspicion and dislike in Con- 
gress. In the Burgoyne campaign of 1777 
his was the indefatigable spirit in the army ; 
but he became engaged in a bitter contro- 
versy with Gates and made that coxcomb his 
implacable rival and enemy. 

On the occupation of Philadelphia in June, 
1778, Washington honored him by appoint- 
ing him commander of the city, but he forth- 
with plunged into a new series of difficulties 
with the executive council of Pennsylvania. 
The result was a series of inquiries culmi- 
nating in a court martial which lasted through 
the greater part of 1779 and ended January 
26, 1780, in a conviction upon minor points, 
the court evidently thinking that Arnold 
needed a rebuke. 

The real difficulty seems to have been 
Arnold's extravagance. Although property 
was later found in his former home in New 
Haven and in Philadelphia, where he had 
bought a magnificent estate, it is difficult to 
see where the funds came from; and it is 
certain that he was loaded down with debt. 

18 



In the spring of 1779 he married the beauti- 
ful Peggy Shippen, daughter of a family of 
loyalist proclivities in Philadelphia, and he 
set up a household on a great scale, with a 
four-horse coach and lavish entertainments. 
The proceedings of the court martial of 1779 
show at least one desperate attempt to make 
money out of his public position. On taking 
command in Philadelphia he ordered (for 
good military reasons) the temporary closing 
of all the shops ; but he immediately author- 
ized his aide, Maj or Franks, to purchase goods 
right and left in any quantity for their joint 
profit. Franks subsequently testified that he 
had made no use of this authorization, and a 
charge that Arnold had used public wagons 
for his private purposes was also unproved; 
but we now know that during the period of 
the court martial Arnold was trying all sorts 
of expedients for relief from financial distress. 
He formed a plan for resigning from the 
army, to head a new settlement in western 
New York ; he asked Washington's advice 
on a scheme of transfer, to put him at the 
head of the navy, where he might win both 
prize money and renown ; he speculated 

19 



in privateering enterprises ; according to 
Marbois, secretary of the French legation, 
he personally appealed to the French min- 
ister, Luzerne, for a subsidy sufficient to pay 

his debts. 

The penalty inflicted by the court martial 

was a reprimand by the Commander-in- 
Chief, which is preserved to us only in the 
somewhat pompous version of Marbois; 
in it Washington promised Arnold an op- 
portunity to restore his reputation. Arnold 
himself and many later writers have in- 
sisted that the mortification of this public 
disgrace impelled him to seek satisfaction 
for his country's ingratitude. Unfortunately 
for this charitable theory, the present papers 
enlarge the evidence that before the court 
martial held its first session Arnold was al- 
ready in correspondence with the enemy ; 
they reveal the fact that Franks knew that 
Arnold in 1779 was corresponding with one 
John Anderson in New York; and Sir Henry 
Clinton wrote to the English government in 
October, 1780, "About eighteen months since, 
I had some reason to conclude that the 
American Major-General Arnold was desir- 

20 



ous of quitting the rebel service and joining 
the cause of Great Britain." 

The truth is that Arnold was financially 
waterlogged. He applied, apparently in 
vain, for four months' pay in cash; in his 
negotiations with Clinton in 1780 he notified 
him that he had drawn on him for three 
hundred pounds. The real reason for Ar- 
nold's treason was not the ingratitude of 
the republic, nor the injustice of the court 
martial, nor the indisposition of Congress 
to recognize his merits. If a windfall of a 
few thousand specie dollars had come in, 
he would probably have forgotten what he 
termed his "injuries" and would have gone 
forward in a military career, next to Wash- 
ington in responsibility. 

Various efforts have been made to show 
that Arnold was seduced by emissaries from 
the British camp, but the truth is that 
throughout most of 1779, while defending his 
sacred honor against what he complained 
of as the barbarous, unjust and malignant 
aspersions of the Pennsylvania authorities, 
he was offering intelligence to Clinton, the 
accuracy of which showed him to be an 

21 



American officer of high rank, and in this 
period began the series of letters signed 
" Gustavus " and addressed to " Mr. John 
Anderson, Merchant ; " John Anderson be- 
ing actually John Andre, who, in the fall of 
1779, became Deputy Adjutant-General of 
the British army. On August 16, 1779, John 
Andre, who had known Peggy Shippen, 
wrote to Mrs. Arnold in his own name offer- 
ing to make small purchases for her in New 
York. The purpose was probably to give 
Arnold an opportunity of comparing the 
handwriting of John Andre with that of 
John Anderson. 

Perhaps from this period dates an un- 
signed paper which does not appear in offi- 
cial proceedings — though Marbois says it 
was found at West Point — suggesting that 
the time had come for another General 
Monk, to restore peace to a distracted coun- 
try. General Monk, however, had control of 
a military force which could decide the re- 
sult. It is therefore not strange that as early 
as about April, 1780, Arnold asked General 
Schuyler to suggest to Washington that he 
entrust Arnold with the command of forces 

22 



in the Highlands, including West Point. He 
urged Robert R. Livingston to write in a 
similar strain and then made direct applica- 
tion to Washington ; but he found it difficult 
to persuade the General that Benedict Arnold 
could prefer post duty to active service, al- 
though the good old wounded leg that had 
so often testified for Arnold in investigations 
and court-martials was again brought into 
service. On August i, 1780, a general order 
was issued in which Arnold was designated 
as commander of the left wing in what it 
was supposed would be an offensive cam- 
paign. Greatly to Washington's surprise, 
this appointment was plainly disconcerting 
to Arnold, at whose earnest request, on Au- 
gust 3, 1780, the coveted appointment to the 
Highlands was made. A private memoran- 
dum of Arnold's (revealed in the Varick tes- 
timony) shows active correspondence with 
"John Anderson" ever since June 7; and 
also shows better than any previous evi- 
dence how systematically and pertinaciously 
Arnold at once set to work to bring about a 
personal interview with a representative of 
Clinton. 

33 



This purpose was disturbed and modified 
by the arrival on the scene of Colonel Rich- 
ard Varick. Born at Hackensack, March 25, 
1753, a member of a well-to-do and promi- 
nent family, young Varick was, at twenty- 
one, admitted to the bar in New York City 
and became a partner of his former precep- 
tor, John Morin Scott ; but " inter arma silent 
leges," and on June 28, 1775, he enlisted as 
captain in a New York regiment, and three 
days later becam.e secretary to General 
Schuyler. After a year and a half of this 
service he was appointed, September 25, 1776, 
" deputy Muster-Master-General to the north- 
ern army," and promoted to be Lieutenant- 
Colonel; in this capacity he served till con- 
gress abolished the office January 12, 1780, 
when he returned to civil life. 

During his service it chanced to Varick 
to be thrown into relations with Arnold. 
In October, 1776, he wrote to Gates : " But 
among the favors of Providence we have 
the blessing of General Arnold's safe return. 
... I hope, however, he will still humble 
the pride and arrogance of haughty Brit- 
ain." In September, 1777, he was one of a 

24 



reconnoitering party which rode out with 
Arnold "to pick out Ground for a New Camp ; " 
and into the controversy between Gates and 
Arnold, Varick threw himself with much 
energy. He wrote: "It is evident to me 
he (Gates) never intended to fight Burgoyne 
until Arnold urged, begged and entreated 
him to do it." A few days later, when chal- 
lenges were flying about among the officers, 
and somebody said that Arnold's mind was 
poisoned by those about him, Varick wrote: 
" Here I feel myself touched ... I shall avoid 
as much as possible going to Arnold's, lest 
I may be the ostensible cause of dispute." 
It is significant also that in this campaign 
Varick also became acquainted with Arnold's 
aide. Major Franks, with whom he was to be 
closely associated in 1780. 

As soon as Arnold was settled in his new 
responsibilities he wrote to Schuyler to sug- 
gest a military secretary, and Schuyler named 
Varick. To the young officer it was a rope 
let down from the skies, for he had been 
anything but happy in his enforced retire- 
ment at Hackensack. He had hardly reached 
home when the British raided the place, and 

25 



the young man found himself doing militia 
duty for the defense of the region, without 
any of the responsibilities of command. 
When, a little later, the cloud of Arnold's 
treason cast a shadow upon him it was well 
that he could point to this patriotic service 
and to the loyalty and sacrifices of his fam- 
ily, of which Varick said in the trial that 
they " have suffered many personal and ex- 
emplary cruelties and indignities, as well as 
great loss of property, from the enemy." In- 
deed, his father, John Varick, had been twice 
held as a prisoner by the British in New York. 
To Arnold's letter of August 5, inviting him 
to become military secretary and promising 
that he should have plenty of time for his law 
studies, Varick forthwith replied, August 7, 
1780, that he was especially glad of service 
"under an officer, than whom none in the 
army claims greater respect from and will be 
more agreeable to me, than yourself; " and 
he promised, as soon as his clothes were 
ready, to join and remain "till the reduction 
of New York." It was August 14 before he 
presented himself at the Robinson House, 
nearly opposite West Point, which was 

26 



Arnold's headquarters ; and just six weeks 
thereafter came the explosion. Varick quick- 
ly discovered that he had no time for law 
studies and complained of the long hours 
of clerical work, and he even threatened to 
resign after about five weeks' service. But he 
was a good secretary in the somewhat stilted 
style of the time, especially when dealing 
with personal enemies like Gates, of whom 
he wrote after the battle of Camden : " He 
will be blasted in this World, and humanly 
judging, he ought to be in the next, for not 
supporting the Maryland troops and suf- 
fering them to be so mauled, when, had he 
behaved like a soldier himself, Cornwallis 
would have been ruined, and to use a com- 
mon term, Cornwalladed." 

In Arnold's household Varick found his 
old acquaintance Major Franks, and on Sep- 
tember 14 Mrs. Arnold came with her little 
son. Dr. Eustis, later secretary of war, was 
in charge of a near-by hospital; Major John 
Lamb, chief of the artillery, an extremely 
sensible and indefatigable officer, was a fre- 
quent visitor ; and Joshua Hett Smith, a gen- 
tleman living at Haverstraw, on the west 

27 



side of the river, was several times enter- 
tained at the house. 

With the exception of Smith there seems 
from the papers to have been no disturbing 
element in this little family, and Varick went 
on with his routine secretaryship without the 
slightest suspicion of the tumult of plans and 
fears which was raging in Arnold's breast ; 
but his residence at headquarters, his talks 
with the officers who came and went, — once 
his Excellency General Washington loomed 
up on the scene, — his intimate association 
with Arnold, his access to the military cor- 
respondence, all gave him an opportunity for 
observations during those six weeks which 
are recorded by no other authority. A keen 
and sensible young man, well versed in mili- 
tary etiquette and the details of military 
correspondence, he could not help noticing 
several things out of the common, and freely 
commented upon them to his intimate, Major 
Franks. 

The testimony at the trial clearly reveals 
that both Varick and Franks were aware 
that Arnold was in correspondence with one 
"John Anderson," ostensibly to secure intel- 

28 



Hgence ; but they both were convinced that 
he was trying to open a secret trade through 
the enemy's Hues. Varick told Franks that 
Arnold was writing in a "mercantile style" 
to John Anderson. Their suspicions on this 
point were strengthened by several efforts 
of Arnold to make merchandise of public 
stores. Indeed, after Arnold's flight, reports 
were rife that he had been looting the pub- 
lic supplies ; but whatever Arnold's corrupt 
purposes, the testimony of Varick and Franks 
points only to trifling successes. The fiery 
young secretary refused from the outset to 
take any responsibility for Arnold's stores or 
household supplies; but he protested when 
Arnold tried to exchange rum and salt pro- 
visions for fresh provisions, because he said 
it forestalled the market against other offi- 
cers who had nothing but money with which 
to buy supplies. Varick also effectively re- 
monstrated against an attempt of Arnold to 
sell three barrels of pork to one Captain Bard, 
warning his commander that " he would in- 
cur disgrace if he did sell any provisions." 
Arnold had more important things on hand 
than the mere peddling out of rum and salt 

29 



and barrels of pork; but Varick undoubt- 
edly prevented a more active movement of 
provisions out of the post cellars. 

In Washington's instructions to Arnold of 
August 3, 1780, he defined his field of com- 
mand as the post of West Point "and its 
dependencies, in which are included all from 
Fishkill to King's Ferry. The corps of in- 
fantry and cavalry which are advancing to- 
ward the enemy's lines on the east side of 
the river will also be under your orders." 
This extended command gave Arnold the 
long desired opportunity for the direct trans- 
mission of correspondence with the enemy, 
and he even ventured to ask the Command- 
er-in-Chief for "a map of the country from 
this place to New York, especially on the 
east side of the river ; " and he doubtless had 
intelligence before Washington's letter of 
August II that the British troops on Long 
Island were being embarked, possibly for 
operations on the Hudson. 

Colonel Lamb at once notified Arnold of 
the weakness of West Point and the danger 
of its being taken by finesse, a catastrophe 
for which Arnold at once began to prepare 

30 



the way by detaching men from the slender 
garrison, and by opening new lines of com- 
munication with the enemy. In vain did 
Lamb protest at the withdrawal of two hun- 
dred men to cut firewood for the winter. By 
the middle of September the post was in a 
position where it could hardly have resisted 
a determined attack. 

The " horse trader," as Arnold's enemies 
loved to call him, now had something to 
trade with, and, as commander of a district, 
he also had the authority and the oppor- 
tunity to send flags of truce through the 
lines ; but for the success of his plan it was 
doubly necessary not to arouse suspicion, 
and his regular military correspondence went 
through the hands of a watchful secretary. 
Hence it was with difficulty that he could 
communicate with the British, though he 
felt it necessary to come to a distinct under- 
standing as to the price before he delivered 
the goods. He pushed in every direction ; 
he asked Lafayette to give him the names 
of his spies in New York City, so that their 
intelligence might come up through West 
Point, a request which Lafayette very pro- 

31 



perly refused; he tried to initiate a system 
of passing refugees through the lines, but 
quickly discovered that Governor Clinton 
did not recognize the right of the military 
to deal with citizens of New York in this 
way. He therefore, on August 17, wrote to 
Governor Clinton to say that Joshua Smith 
desired passes for certain women who 
thought they could find friends beyond the 
lines. Clinton replied that such applica- 
tions had hitherto gone through "the person 
administering the government," and that 
few flags were granted by the state, and 
then only after consulting the commanding 
officer. This episode aroused Varick's sus- 
picions and on the twenty-fourth he wrote 
to Colonel Benson, Clinton's aide, to find out 
the practice in such matters, and to test 
Smith's truthfulness. 

Arnold next attempted to hold an interview 
with Colonel Beverly Robinson, of the Brit- 
ish army, within the American lines. Robin- 
son was a Tory, — in fact the owner of the 
house occupied by Arnold as headquarters, 
— and a refugee in New York. Robinson 
wrote to Arnold proposing a meeting, prima- 

32 



rily to consider the status of his own estates 
within the American lines, but also to dis- 
cuss the possibility of peace. Arnold dictated 
a letter in return which suggested a corre- 
spondence or a meeting, and Franks testifies 
below that Varick told him, September i8, 
that he had remonstrated against such rela- 
tions with a person " very obnoxious to the 
state of New York;" whereupon Arnold 
allowed Varick to alter the text of the letter. 
Varick's knowledge of this correspondence 
and the passage of flags had to be neutral- 
ized, and Arnold felt himself compelled to 
say that Robinson was seeking an interview 
with a view to peace; whereupon Colonel 
Lamb remonstrated and informed Arnold 
that he had better consult Washington. 
Under this pressure Arnold wrote to Wash- 
ington, who practically forbade any such 
communication. 

It seems probable that Varick's quick sus- 
picion of Robinson — for at that time he 
had none of Arnold — contributed greatly to 
prevent the first-hand understanding which 
Arnold was so eager to secure. At any rate, 
he now bent his energies toward a personal 

33 



meeting with a British officer, — "a man of 
my own mensuration," as he had stipulated 
in his correspondence with CHnton, — and 
Andre was designated. 

Of the numerous "Gustavus" letters of 
Arnold to Anderson the only one that has 
ever been printed was written August 30, 
1780, and turned up after Andre's execution, 
in the hands of General Parsons of the 
American army. Of the circumstances and 
fate of this letter very little was known until 
the discovery of the Varick papers, in which 
appears a long deposition by one William 
Heron, to the effect that he went to West 
Point to ask Arnold " for a flag of truce to 
go to Kingsbridge," — in itself rather a sus- 
picious request, — and that Arnold kept him 
waiting for two hours and then gave him a 
sealed letter, August 30, 1780, which he said 
had been left in his hands to forward to New 
York; and which he asked Heron to deliver. 
"I was well persuaded," says Heron, "I 
was detained there while he was writing 
it," and his suspicions were further aroused 
because of "the circumspection the General 
observed lest Colonel Varick should see the 

34 



letter, or hear him (the General) giving me 
the charge concerning it." 

So concerned was this sturdy patriot at the 
character of the letter that he took it to New 
York and then brought it back to General 
Parsons, to whom he delivered it on Septem- 
ber 10. Parsons afterward testified that he 
forgot to forward it to Washington until af- 
ter the execution of Andre, against whom it 
would have been significant evidence. This 
is the often-printed " Gustavus letter," in 
which the high-minded Arnold was attempt- 
ing to restore peace to a distracted country 
through a personal interview in which " the 
risks and profits of the copartnership may 
be fully and clearly understood." It was a 
letter which ought to have aroused the sus- 
picions of any person into whose hands it 
fell. Arnold speedily became aware that it 
had gone astray, for he let Varick know of 
its existence, and at once began writing a 
series of letters to Colonel Sheldon, who was 
in command of the troops on the front, and 
to other officers, to receive a person named 
John Anderson coming through the British 
lines, and to forward him to his headquar- 

35 



ters. Andre, supposing that all was arranged, 
wrote direct to Sheldon a letter in which he 
says : " Should I not be allowed to go, the 
officer who is to command the escort, be- 
tween whom and myself no distinction need 
be made, can speak on the affair." Know- 
ledge of this letter was soon so widely dis- 
sipated that Arnold found himself obliged 
to write to Washington about it ; but as no 
John Anderson presented himself, the whole 
thing went over. 

In a letter of September 7, 1780 — which, 
with others of this interesting correspond- 
ence, is to be found only in the Varick pa- 
pers — Arnold says: "I will write to Gen- 
eral Parsons on the subject, and you need 
not apprehend any difficulty, as we are on 
the most friendly footing." This refers to 
an attempt to open a new channel of intel- 
ligence, on the pretense of buying some ar- 
ticles for ladies' use in New York. Parsons 
was a man already under some suspicion. 
More than a year earlier, in May, 1779, he 
wrote to Colonel John Lamb asking whether 
he had heard allegations of his holding cor- 
respondence with the enemy ; and there are 

36 



some entries in Clinton's papers which have 
led to the suspicion that Parsons was at this 
time in British pay. At any rate he put no 
obstacle in the way of Arnold's plans. 

As the attempts to meet Beverley Rob- 
inson and to bring Andre through the lines 
were both unsuccessful, the next step was to 
secure an interview with one or the other 
between the lines of the two combatants. 
On September ii, Arnold went down to 
Dobbs's Ferry, where Andre and Robinson 
were actually waiting for him, but was fired 
on by British boats and barely escaped with 
his life. Robinson then came up on the Vul- 
ture and attempted to open the correspond- 
ence with which Varick so interfered. 

Notwithstanding the efforts which had 
now been going on for several weeks, the 
desired interview had not been secured; but 
Washington now crossed the river on his way 
to Hartford, and the time was favorable for 
a final and successful attempt. For this pur- 
pose Arnold made use of Joshua Hett Smith; 
and the Varick papers throw a new light 
upon the character of that man and his rela- 
tion to the plot. Smith subsequently saved 

37 



his neck by what seemed like a frank state- 
ment of his whole connection with Arnold, 
and the vehement assertion that he neither 
felt nor had reason to feel any suspicion 
that the negotiations were directed against 
his country. The Varick papers, however, 
show Smith in a new light, for they reveal 
an intimacy with Arnold from the time of 
his coming to West Point. 

Joshua Hett Smith was a member of a 
Tory family. His brother was at this very 
time a refugee in New York, but he remained 
within the lines and had rendered some small 
service to the subsistence officers at West 
Point. Nevertheless, Varick from his arrival 
suspected and hated the man, — all the more 
because he seemed to have some occult in- 
fluence over Arnold. Among the most valu- 
able papers in this volume are the letters 
and testimony relative to this episode. It 
appears that on August 24, in his letter to 
Benson with regard to the use of flags, 
Varick took occasion to inquire as to the 
character of Smith, because he seemed not 
to be telling the truth to Arnold. "The 
General thinks well of Smith. I must con- 

38 



fess that the conduct of the family will not 
permit me to do so, and I have told the 
General so." The answer to this letter did 
not reach Varick until September ig. Ben- 
son replied : " From the conduct of his con- 
nections and his own loose character, I 
cannot persuade myself to think him enti- 
tled to the fullest confidence." This answer 
confirmed Varick's suspicions, and on Sep- 
tember 21, learning that Arnold had gone 
to Smith's house (where, as a matter of fact, 
he was then conferring with Andre), Varick 
and Franks decided that they must resign 
unless Mrs. Arnold would use her influence 
upon her husband to discontinue the connec- 
tion, — a step which she promised to take. 

Two days later, however. Smith reap- 
peared — as they were soon to know, on his 
return from escorting Andre homeward — 
and the fiery young secretary found an op- 
portunity to pay his respects to Arnold's 
friend. By pre-arrangement a quarrel was 
put upon Smith, ostensibly because he spoke 
disparagingly of paper money, — actually 
because he ventured to say that a good 
peace might have been made with the Eng- 

39 



lish in 1778. The quarrel rose to such a 
height that Mrs. Arnold at last interposed ; 
and after dinner, Varick says: "I cursed 
Smith as a damned rascal, a scoundrel, and 
a spy;" while Arnold insisted "that if he 
asked the devil to dine with him the gentle- 
men of his family should be civil to him," 
and added that " he was always ready to 
receive advice from the gentlemen of his 
family, but, by God, would not be dictated 
to by them." Arnold was so hard pressed, 
however, that he finally promised to have 
nothing to do with Smith, whom, indeed, he 
had already used and was about to throw 
away. There seems little doubt that, had 
the negotiations lasted much longer, these 
two young men would have driven Arnold 
to bay on the question of his relation with 
Smith. 

The connection of Smith with the Andr6 
episode was unknown to Varick at this time, 
but subsequent revelations showed that at 
Arnold's direct and pressing request, rowed 
by two of his own tenants (one of whom 
was coerced into this task by Arnold's threat 
to treat him as a Tory), Smith went on board 

40 



the ship Vulture at night and brought off 
Major Andre September 21, in his character 
of John Anderson. Contrary to Andre's ex- 
pectations, Arnold, who came to meet him, 
professed himself unable to get him back, 
and took him to Smith's house, where he re- 
mained with Arnold throughout the twenty- 
second. During that day, however, two guns, 
which Arnold, in order to keep up appear- 
ances, had been compelled to send down the 
river to Colonel Livingston, opened fire on 
the Vulture and compelled her to drop down 
stream, so that on the second night again 
Andre could not be sent back. 

He therefore started, under Smith's guid- 
ance, to reach New York by land. Before 
noon of the next day, September 23, he 
was captured by three irregular militia-men. 
But for the objection of Talmadge, to whom 
Arnold had written a suspicious letter, he 
would have been sent to Arnold's headquar- 
ters. As it was, through the blunder of still 
another officer, on September 25 Arnold re- 
ceived letters announcing that Andre had 
been captured, bearing papers purporting to 
be from Arnold. Washington was on the 

41 



point of reaching the Robinson House, and 
Arnold had just time to make a communica- 
tion to his wife and to be set down the river 
by boatmen whom he had retained by an 
adroit correspondence with the Commander- 
in-Chief, and to take refuge on the Vulture- 

Not only had Varick no part in or know- 
ledge of Andre's mission, but these papers 
show that on the twenty-fifth of September, 
though in the Robinson House, he was ill and 
in bed. Except a brief letter from Alexander 
Hamilton, who was also on the spot, we 
have had little knowledge of the details of 
that fateful day until the discovery of the 
present papers, and especially the interesting 
letter to his sister, which (found incomplete 
in the papers) is printed in the Second Part 
of this volume. 

This evidence throws new light on the 
question of the responsibility of Mrs. Arnold, 
who, still little more than a girl, and with 
a six months' old baby in her care, was 
thrown into a state little short of lunacy. 
Varick says : " Raving, mad to see him, 
with her hair dishevelled and flowing about 
her neck — she seized me by the hand with 

42 



this, to me distressing, address and a wild 
look: 'Colonel Varick, have you ordered 
my child to be killed ? ' — she exclaimed, 
' No, General Arnold will never return, he is 
gone, he is gone forever ! ' — poor, distressed, 
unhappy, frantic, and miserable lady." 
Washington, on his return from West Point, 
did all in his power to soothe this wretched 
woman. 

Many years later the biographer of Aaron 
Burr gave currency to the statement that 
Mrs. Arnold a few days afterwards confessed 
to the wife of a British officer (later Mrs. 
Aaron Burr) that this behavior was nothing 
but a comedy ; that she had not only known 
of the impending treason, but in fact had 
drawn her husband into it. The roundabout 
evidence of Davis, who was told by Burr, 
who was told by Mrs. Burr, who was told 
by Mrs. Arnold, is accompanied with details 
of place and circumstance which are mani- 
festly impossible ; and Varick's straight-for- 
ward testimony makes it unbelievable that 
she should have been playing a part. Indeed, 
one of the officers who knew her at the time 
says bluntly that it was impossible for her 

43 



to be trusted with such affairs, since, when 
she was in a temper, she was in the habit 
of telHng everything that she knew. To be 
Mrs. Benedict Arnold was in itself a heavy 
fate, and there is no need to add the guilt 
of treason. 

The crushing effect of the revelation of 
Arnold's treason is strikingly told in the pa- 
pers printed in this volume. Franks and Var- 
ick were absolutely overwhelmed when the 
first thought of Arnold's treachery dawned 
upon them, and actually reproached them- 
selves for venturing to whisper to each other 
that he was a traitor. It was Washington 
who at length plainly told them that Arnold 
was a fugitive, and by a precaution which 
an honorable man could not resent Varick 
was placed under arrest. He at once placed 
his own papers and those of Arnold at the 
disposal of the authorities, and nobody pre- 
sent on that fateful day appears to have 
for a moment suspected, notwithstanding 
his confidential relations to Arnold, that the 
young man was in the least degree involved 
in Arnold's plot. 

The treason failed, and failed because suc- 

44 



cess required the surmounting of every one 
of a long series of difficulties, particularly in 
securing the safe and speedy transmission 
of letters and in arranging for an interview 
with a British representative. One of the 
influences which served to confuse, delay, 
and eventually to upset Arnold's plans was 
the repugnance of Varick to everything that 
looked like an understanding with the en- 
emy. If, as there is some reason to believe, 
Arnold hoped to make a tool of his secre- 
tary, he found him not only incorruptible, but 
vigilant. 

Following upon the revelation of the trea- 
son three judicial investigations were made. 
The first of these was Andre's trial, the re- 
cord of which, published at the time and many 
times reprinted since, does not in any way 
refer to Varick. It is a curious fact that the 
members of the court were careful not to 
put questions to Andre — already plainly a 
doomed man — which might seem to require 
him to implicate other people, outside of 
his conference with Arnold and his stay in 
Smith's house. The second court martial, 
that of Joshua Hett Smith, occupied no less 

45 



than seventeen sessions, and did not appear 
in print until 1866. Here again the trial was 
far from searching : there was no adequate 
prosecution, no proper examination of the 
witnesses against Smith, and documentary 
evidence, which apparently might easily 
have been obtained and which would prob- 
ably have hung Smith, was not presented ; 
nor was Varick called upon to testify to 
Smith's suspicious behavior at the Robin- 
son House. Smith conducted his own de- 
fense, put in elaborate testimony of his 
loyalty, and was acquitted. Immediately 
re-arrested by the state authorities, he was 
held for trial for many months; but escaped 
to New York. 

The third of these investigations is the 
Varick court of inquiry, the actual trial oc- 
cupying but two days, November 4 and 5. 
Although the romantic episode of Andre is 
excluded, the preliminaries of the treason are 
revealed in a new light and many important 
testimonies and depositions not heretofore 
printed are now made available. Varick took 
the greatest pains in organizing his defense. 
At the court of inquiry, which he demanded 

46 



on September 28, he intended to present gen- 
eral evidence; for, said he, "I mean to make 
the most of this favorable opportunity, in 
showing to the world a true portrait of my 
conduct from the earliest period of the war, 
from stage to stage, till the memorable 25th 
Sept. last." Washington sagaciously replied 
that nobody accused him of disloyalty and 
nobody was prosecuting, and that the in- 
quiry should be confined to the occurrences 
at the Robinson House. Varick wrote right 
and left to his military friends and associates 
for depositions. His witnesses included not 
only his intimates, Franks, Dr. Eustis, and 
Colonel Lamb, but depositions from Schuy- 
ler, Parsons, St. Clair, Colonel Harrison, 
who was Washington's secretary, and other 
officers. Although the public mind was 
greatly excited and eager to find accom- 
plices of Arnold, nobody took the opportu- 
nity to appear against him, and the reader 
of this interesting and valuable material must 
coincide with the unanimous verdict of the 
court acquitting Varick, and the approval of 
the Commander-in-Chief upon that finding ; 
the court declaring him "entitled (thro' every 

47 



part of his conduct) to a degree of merit 
which does him great honor as an officer, 
and particularly distinguishes him as a sin- 
cere friend to his country." 

Franks, who joined Varick in his request 
for a court of inquiry and was technically in- 
cluded in the proceedings, brought no sepa- 
rate testimony except a long series of inter- 
rogatories to Varick, which simply re-stated 
Varick's and his own testimony. Although 
exonerated, Franks remained under the sus- 
picion of the Pennsylvania government, and 
together with several of his associates was 
ordered to quit the state. He had for years 
been the close friend and associate of Arnold, 
but there is not a scintilla of evidence in any 
of the courts of inquiry to show that he had 
the slightest knowledge of Arnold's purposes. 

As for Varick, his manly and spirited con- 
duct, and perhaps the skill with which he pre- 
pared his defense, attracted the attention of 
Washington, who secured his appointment 
as " recording secretary " to arrange the 
military correspondence of the Commander- 
in-Chief, a work on which he was engaged 
several years. His excellent qualities were 

48 



speedily recognized by his countrymen in 
New York, where he settled down and mar- 
ried Miss Maria Roosevelt. In 1784, at the 
age of thirty-one years, he became Recorder 
of New York City, then Attorney-General of 
the state, and in 1789, when only thirty-six 
years old, he became New York City's first 
mayor ; an office which he held for eleven 
years. He was for many years President of 
the Merchants' Bank, and of the American 
Bible Society. He lived until July 30, 1831. 
To the day of his death he cherished his 
transcript of the proceedings of the Court 
of Inquiry, as a vindication to posterity ; a 
vindication which it now falls to the fortu- 
nate lot of The Bibliophile Society to put 
on permanent record. 

Albert Bushnell Hart 



PROCEEDINGS 

OF 

THE VARICK COURT OF INQUIRY 



THE ROBINSON HOUSE 
/ ARNOLDS HEADQUARTfiRS 
This view is from the l^n on the^. soWti. side^ The 
.Jet portion to the right was bccuptd by Arnol . 
;;::;:wrthe. counts residence of Cc.^ Beverly 
Robmson. mentioned in the Varick papet.. 



PROCEEDliNVJb OF A COURT OF 
INQUIRY 

Held at West Point, the second day of 
November, 1780, in Pursuance of an Order 
FROM HIS Excellency General Washing- 
ton, Commander-in-chief OF the Armies of 
the United States of America, to Major- 
General Heath 

PRESENT 



Colonel Van Schaick, President. 
Lieutenant-Colonel Cobb, Lieutenant-Col- ) Men 
onel Dearborn, Major Reid, Captain Cox, j ters 



The Court being convened, the President 
51 



gJiaTHAuy W3IV 2tnT 



PROCEEDINGS OF A COURT OF 
INQUIRY 

Held at West Point, the second day of 
November, 1780, in Pursuance of an Order 
FROM HIS Excellency General Washing- 
ton, Commander-in-chief OF the Armies of 
THE United States of America, to Major- 
General Heath 

PRESENT 



Colonel Van Schaick, President. 
Lieutenant-Colonel Cobb, Lieutenant-Col- ) Mem- 
onel Dearborn, Major Reid, Captain Cox, I bers. 



The Court being convened, the President 
51 



produced the Orders of Maj or-General Heath 
for the sitting thereof, which, being read, are 
as follows : 

Headquarters, West Point, 

Tuesday, October 31, 1780. 

Major-General Heaths Morning Orders 

Lieutenant - Colonel Varick and Major 
Franks, late of General Arnold's family, 
having requested of his Excellency General 
Washington, a Court of Inquiry, to ascertain 
the part they acted relative to the transac- 
tions of General Arnold, and his Excellency 
having been pleased to signify his pleasure 
that an Inquiry be made accordingly, a Court 
of Inquiry is to sit on Thursday next at nine 
o'clock in the morning, at the Court Martial 
Room at West Point to examine into the 
conduct of those gentlemen in their connec- 
tion with the late Major-General Arnold dur- 
ing his command at West Point, and relative 
to his desertion to the enemy. 

Colonel Van Schaick, President, Lieuten- 
ant-Colonels Cobb and Dearborn, Major 
Reid and Captain Dunscomb, members. 

52 



All evidences and persons concerned to at- 
tend. 

Headquarters, West Point, 

Wednesday, November i, 1780. 

Captain Cox, of the Jersey Line, is ap- 
pointed member of the Court of Inquiry men- 
tioned in yesterday's Orders, vice Captain 
Dunscomb, absent. 

Evening Orders 

Headquarters, West Point, 

November 2, 1780. 

The Court of Inquiry appointed in the 
Orders of the 31st ultimo will sit to-mor- 
row morning, ten o'clock, at the President's 
quarters. 

All persons concerned are to attend. 

The Court met pursuant to Orders and ad- 
journed till to-morrow morning at 9 o'clock. 



53 



West Poinum 1780, showing where the great chain 
was stretched ^osS the Hudson River. 




Saturday, November 3, 1780. — The Court 
met pursuant to adjournment. 

Lieutenant -Colonel Richard Varick ap- 
peared before the Court and addressed them 
as follows, to wit : 

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Court of 

Inquiry : 

I now appear before you thro' the indul- 
gence of his Excellency the Commander-in- 
Chief on a subject which involved not only 
the most important interests of the United 
States of America, but especially and very 
intimately those of the State of New York ; 

54 



and which still affects my dearest object in 
life, a fair reputation. 

I come not before you as a wrong-doer, 
charged with misconduct, but conscious of 
no crime during a period of above five years' 
variegated duty in the service of my country. 
I come to you now as a petitioner, suing for 
justice to a once fair and unblemished char- 
acter ; which thro' the infamous perfidy and 
horrid treachery of the late Major-General 
Arnold (of inglorious memory) in. attempting 
to betray into the enemy's hands the post at 
West Point and its dependencies, and in his 
desertion to the enemy, stands unhappily 
impeached of, and exposed to, odious suspi- 
cions of crimes of the deepest dye : those of 
treason, or misprisions of treason, from the 
designing, the envious, the disingenuous and 
uninformed of my fellow-countrymen and 
fellow-citizens. 

It is a justifiable and laudable ambition, 
and a wish which I believe to be natural to 
all honest men who have served their coun- 
try with conscious fidelity and integrity, that 
not only their reputations may remain fair 
and unimpeached, but that their merits may 

55 



be made known, at least to their contempo- 
raries, with deserved applause. 

It is peculiarly so to a young man who is 
rising in life and who has served his country 
faithfully in a subordinate capacity, and has 
fair prospects of receiving further marks of 
confidence from, and who from his merit 
alone can hope for the attention of, his coun- 
trymen and fellow-citizens. 

As such a character, I trust, I do appear be- 
fore you. Unfortunately, however, my repu- 
tation, thro' no misconduct of my own, but 
by the baseness of a parricide, is betrayed 
into the most distressing and disagreeable 
reproach, from which, I hope — nay I do con- 
fidently expect — that this Court, on a proper 
representation of facts, supported by honor- 
able and incontestable testimony, will fully 
exculpate and rescue it. 

It may be necessary to inform you, that 
being deeply impressed with an affecting 
sense of my unhappy situation, by reason of 
the treachery and baseness of Mr. Arnold, 
and also with a proper consideration of the 
duties I owe to my parents, who in the early 
days of my youth instructed me to tread the 

56 



pleasing path of virtue and uprightness, who 
for their warm attachment to the rights of 
their injured country have suffered many per- 
sonal and exemplary cruelties and indigni- 
ties, as well as great losses of property from 
the enemy, and who now in the decline of 
life look up to the virtues and the merits 
of their children as the flattering rewards of 
their early anxious hopes and cares and the 
happy consolation of their declining years, 
and prompted also by duty and regard to 
affectionate brothers and sisters and a happy 
circle of relations and friends, who wish well 
to their country, and who feel themselves 
deeply interested in the honorable applause 
or unfavorable opinion of my countrymen 
and fellow-citizens on my public conduct; 
urged, I say, by these cogent motives and a 
full conviction of the rectitude of my inten- 
tions and actions as well as a consciousness 
of some merits, I did on the 28th day of Sep- 
tember last, at Robinson's House, solicit his 
Excellency General Washington to order a 
Court-martial or a Court of Inquiry on my 
past conduct, to convene as soon as my im- 
paired health would bear the fatigues inci- 

57 



dent thereto, that I might wipe off from my 
reputation the odious reproach and suspi- 
cions, into which my unhappy connection 
with the guilty Arnold has traduced it. 

I was also prompted to this request by a 
sense of the duty which I owe to myself, as 
well as in honor and respect to the State of 
New York, of which I profess myself a sub- 
ject, and which from my past experience 
and apparent good conduct in public life had 
a right to expect my future services. 

As my conduct in the army and since my 
dismission by Congress, prior to my joining 
Mr. Arnold's military family, may form a 
very important part of the evidence strongly 
presumptive of my innocence or guilt in the 
present case, I hope you will be in opinion 
that testimony thereof will be of some im- 
portance and necessary to enable you from 
the circumstantial evidence, which alone can 
be offered to you, in the professed and 
pointed subject of your inquiries, to form a 
competent and just decision on the line of 
my conduct since I joined Mr. Arnold as a 
volunteer, and his secretary, and also that it 
will be necessary and proper to evince to 

58 



my countrymen and fellow-citizens the true 
tenor of my language and actions from the 
commencement of the war to the day of my 
joining him, and to show to them my inde- 
fatigable and unintermitted exertions thro' 
every period of my service in the army, prior 
thereto, to promote the weal of my injured 
country. 

I trust that you will bear with patience the 
prolixity of this business, when you reflect 
that the most valuable object, — a brother 
soldier's once fair and unimpeached reputa- 
tion, is suspended for public admiration or re- 
proach, and his conduct for acquittal or con- 
demnation, on the management and issue of 
this Inquiry, and on the manner and terms 
in which it may be expressed in your report 
to his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, 
and thro' his orders to my countrymen and 
fellow-citizens. 

Let me therefore claim your indulgence 
and candor while I introduce to you full evi- 
dence of my approved conduct and patriot- 
ism, from the earliest commencement of the 
war and especially from the 28th June or ist 
of July, 1775, when I entered the service of 

59 



my country as a Captain in General McDou- 
gall's regiment, and secretary to Major-Gen- 
eral Schuyler's separate command, until the 
25th day of September last, when General 
Arnold joined the enemy, and from that to 
the present day. 

In order to render the course of the pro- 
fessed subjects of your inquiries into my 
conduct the more easy, and to enable you to 
form your judgment thereon with greater 
precision, I will, with your permission, divide 
the objects for testimony of my conduct prior 
thereto into three different periods. 

The first, to commence from the earliest 
date of the war, or my entering the service as 
a Captain, on the 28th day of June, 1775, and 
to end with the 25th day of September, 1776, 
when I was appointed deputy Muster-Mas- 
ter-General to the Northern Army. 

The second, to commence on the 25th of 
September, 1776, and to end with the 12th 
of January, 1780, when I was dismissed by 
Congress. 

The third, to comprehend the intermediate 
time between the 12th of January and the 
13th of August last, when I unhappily en- 

60 



tered into Mr. Arnold's family. In this, also, 
to be comprised the proofs of my motives for 
rejoining the army. 

My character and conduct being well sup- 
ported and established by proper evidence in 
these three periods, I trust that you will be 
enabled to enter with advantage upon the 
professed important and pointed object for 
your investigation, to wit : 

Whether I was, or was not, a principal in, 
or advised of, the perfidious and treacherous 
transactions of Mr. Arnold with the enemy ; 
or of his desertion or intentions to desert to 
them on the morning of the twenty-fifth of 
September last. 

This being done, another and last object 
for your investigation and inquiry will pre- 
sent itself, to wit : 

To inform yourself whether I was, or was 
not, an agent in, or conniving at, Mr. Ar- 
nold's abuse of power in his embezzlement 
of the public stores and provisions. 

On the three first periods anterior to my 
connection with Mr. Arnold, I am enabled 
by very abundant written testimony to prove 
to your fullest satisfaction and my own 

6i 



honor, the unreproached, proper, uniform, 
active, and patriotic line of conduct which I 
observed before I entered into, and while I 
was in, the army ; as also since my dismis- 
sion on the i2th of January to the 13th of 
August last, and my motives for rejoining 
the army, which under my circumstances 
could not be done with propriety in any other 
way than in the manner I did enter the late 
General Arnold's family. 

With respect to the line of my conduct 
between the 13th August, when I joined Ar- 
nold's family, till the 25th September, when 
he deserted to the enemy, I trust I shall be 
able to furnish you with such combined cir- 
cumstantial evidence as will fully evince to 
you, as far as negatives of so peculiar a 
nature are capable of proof, that I had not 
the least agency in, nor could have suspicion 
ofy the treasonable and perfidious conduct of 
Mr. Arnold in his infernal and destructive 
designs against the rights of his country in 
attempting to betray into the enemy's hands 
the fortresses in the Highlands ; nor of his 
desertion or intentions to desert to the enemy, 
till some hours after his departure- 

62 



And from my actions and language since 
I joined his family, and a variety of other 
circumstances, I expect to convince your 
judgments that I was incapable of the horrid 
crime of being an agent in a design to sacri- 
fice my country, or of concealing the most 
distant attempts thereto in any other person. 
But that during the short period of my ser- 
vice with him, until the day of his desertion, 
I acted the part of an indefatigable, attentive 
and circumspect officer, and of a sincere 
friend to my country ; and that from that day 
to this I still have continued a uniformity of 
conduct. 

As to the last object of your Inquiry, I do 
fully expect that I shall prove to your satis- 
faction that not a single article of any kind 
of public stores was drawn from the public 
Magazine on my order, except two hundred 
and twenty-five pounds of beef, five neat's 
[ox] tongues, two barrels of damaged Indian 
meal and one hundred weight of rendered 
tallow for candles for the use of Mr. Arnold's 
military family ; that all the other orders 
were issued from his own hand, or from 
Major Frank's by his direction, and that his 

63 



transactions in the sales of any public stores 
were done in a private manner and entered 
in a private memorandum book. 

And I hope further to prove to you that I 
never was acquainted with the private ar- 
rangements of Mr. Arnold's family ; that I 
positively declared that I had not joined him 
to be his purveyor, steward or caterer ; that 
I refused to act in either capacity, and that I 
was not informed of what stores he had for 
his own use, either public or private, except 
some flour, bread and fish received from 
Fishkill and receipted for by myself, and 
except, also, one hogshead of spirits. 

Having thus given you the heads of the 
matters I have in my power to prove, and 
which I mean to insist on, I shall now by 
leave of the Court proceed to offer testimony 
in support of my allegations. 

Therefore I beg leave to offer to you in 
evidence a number of papers to evince to 
you what my character and conduct were, 
prior to, as well as since, my first entering 
the army in 1775, until my dismission by Con- 
gress on the I2th of January last. 



64 



THE VERPLANCK HOUSE 
This house is famous as the headquarters of Baron 
Steuben, when the American Array was encamped in 
the vicinity of Newburgh, and also as the house in which 
the Society of the Cincinnati was organized in 1783. 



Deposition of major fish 



West Point 
State of New York 



• ^ 

rork. i 



Major Nicholas Fish of the 2nd New York 
Regiment being sworn, deposeth and saith, 
that he has been personally and very inti- 
mately acquainted with Lieutenant-Colonel 
Richard Varick since some time in the year 
1772 ; that they served as fellow-students 
in the office of the Honorable John Morin 
Scott, Esquire, at the study of the law ; that 
they continued to live together as fellow- 
students from that time until some time in 
the year 1774, when the said Lieutenant- 

65 



Colonel Varick was, after a public exami- 
nation, admitted to the Bar, as a practicer 
of the law in all the courts of the then col- 
ony of New York, with an unexceptionable 
character ; that thereafter the said Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Varick continued in the office 
aforesaid in co-partnership in the practice 
of the law with the said John Morin Scott, 
Esquire, until some time in June or July, 
1775, when he entered the army as a cap- 
tain and joined the military family of Major- 
General Schuyler, as his secretary. 

And the deponent further saith, that he 
was well acquainted with the political as 
well as moral character of Lieutenant-Colo- 
nel Varick ever since the commencement of 
the dispute and war between Great Britain 
and America, and that the said Lieutenant- 
Colonel Varick did on all occasions discover 
the most warm and spirited attachment to 
the rights of his injured country, and that he 
always approved himself and was respected 
as a man of virtue, probity and integrity. 

That he has been pretty well informed of 
the language and line of conduct of Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Varick since he has been in the 

66 



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army, and has every reason to believe that 
they have been regular, uniform and proper, 
and that his exertions have been indefati- 
gable and unremitted in discharge of the 
several offices he has held from Congress 
and his Generals. 
And further the deponent saith not. 

Nicholas Fish 

Sworn before me at West Point this 5th 
day of November, 1780. 

W. Heath, Major-General. 



II 



Copy OF A letter from the late Major-Gen- 
ERAL Schuyler addressed to the Presi- 
dent OF THE Court for inquiring into the 
CONDUCT of Lieutenant-Colonel Varick 

Saratoga, October 15, 1780. 

Sir, — 

Yesterday I received a letter from Colonel 
Varick informing me that he had entreated 
an inquiry into his conduct and that it would 
probably soon take place, and requesting 
me to attend to give my testimony, as he 

67 



r 

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\%\^-k\-^^~^ 



ii f i » i i 





^ I m 



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til' 

I'M 



has long resided with me. Nothing but a 
very ill state of health prevents my attend- 
ing. I consider it, however, a duty incum- 
bent on me to inform you, Sir, and thro' you 
the Court, that in the year 1775, Richard 
Varick, Esquire, was appointed a Captain in 
one of the New York battalions; that when 
the command in the Northern Department 
was conferred on me, I appointed him my 
secretary ; that he served in that office until 
the autumn of 1776, when he was appointed 
deputy Muster-Master-General, and had the 
rank of Lieutenant-Colonel conferred on him, 
in which office he remained until the mus- 
ter-master department was abolished. 

That I reflect, with satisfaction, on the 
propriety of that gentleman's conduct in 
every point of view ; that I had such entire 
confidence in his attachment to the glorious 
cause we are engaged in that I concealed 
nothing from him, and never once had reason 
to repent that I had reposed so much trust 
in him ; that I am so far from believing him 
capable of betraying his country, that even 
if testimony on oath was given against him, 
it would gain little credit with me, unless the 

68 



persons giving it were of fair and unblem- 
ished characters. 

Upon the whole, as I have always found 
him to be a man of strict honor, probity and 
virtue, so I do still believe him to be. 

I am. Sir, your most obedient and humble 
servant, 

Ph. Schuyler 



III 

Copt of Lieutenant-Colonel Varick-s oath 
OF allegiance, &c., to the united States, 

AND MAJOR-GENERAL CONWAY'S CERTIFICATE 
THEREOF 



City and County of Albany, 
State of New York. 



t 



I, Richard Varick, do acknowledge the 
United States of America to be free, inde- 
pendent and sovereign States, and declare 
the people thereof owe no allegiance or 
obedience to George the Third, King of 
Great Britain ; and I do renounce, refuse 
and abjure any allegiance or obedience to 
him, and I do swear that I will, to the ut- 
most of my power, support, maintain and 

6g 



defend the said United States against the 
said King George the Third, his heirs and 
successors, and his and their abettors and 
adherents, and will serve the said United 
States in the office of deputy Muster-Master- 
General for the Northern Department, which 
I now hold, with fidelity, according to the 
best of my skill and understanding. 

Richard Varick 

I certify that Colonel Richard Varick took 
before me the oath of allegiance to the United 
States of America, and abjuration and re- 
nunciation of obedience or allegiance to 
George the Third, King of Great Britain, 
and also the oath for the faithful execution 
of the office of deputy Muster-Master-Gen- 
eral for the Northern Department, according 
to the resolutions of Congress of February 
the third, 1778. 

Thomas Conway, Major-General. 

Albany, March, 1778. 



70 



IV 

Deposition of Captain Henry sewall 

State of New Jersey, ) 
Bergen County. f 

Captain Henry Sewall, of the 12th Massa- 
chusetts Regiment, being duly sworn, depos- 
eth and saith : 

That since July, 1778, he has been well 
acquainted with Lieutenant-Colonel Richard 
Varick, late deputy Commissary-General of 
musters, and that from that time till in Jan- 
uary, 1780, he acted as deputy commissary 
of musters under him ; that during that 
period of service and through the whole 
course of his acquaintance with him, he 
discovered in the said Lieutenant-Colonel 
Varick the most indefatigable and pointed 
personal labor in, and close attention to, the 
duties of his office and to the regularity and 
propriety of duty done by the different depu- 
ties under his immediate superintendence 
and direction. 

That during the campaign, 1779, when 
thro' want of proper provision for his depu- 

71 



ties many of them had resigned, the said 
Lieutenant-Colonel Varick did, besides the 
ordinary duties of his office imposed on him 
by Congress, on several occasions person- 
ally and unassisted by any deputy, muster 
one or two divisions of the army ; that the 
regular plan of mustering ordered by Con- 
gress and which he had pointedly prescribed 
to his deputies might not be infringed ; in 
confidence, that Congress would make a 
proper provision, which had long heretofore 
been requested from them by memorial. 

That during the campaign, 1778, after July, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Varick directed the mus- 
ters of the troops from New York and the 
Eastern States and the Artillery, as well as 
those at the posts on the Hudson and Mo- 
hawk Rivers, and, in 1779, those of Pennsyl- 
vania, Connecticut and Massachusetts, as 
well as the park of artillery ; that during 
that period of service, he firmly believes the 
said Lieutenant-Colonel Varick acquitted 
himself of his official trust with faithful- 
ness, propriety, great personal attention, un- 
wearied assiduity, and to the general satis- 
faction of the army. 

72 



And further the deponent saith not. 

H. Sewall 

The within deposition was sworn before 
me the i6th day of October, 1780. 

Robert Howe, Major-General. 



Certificate of Brigadier-General Parsons 

I became acquainted with Colonel Richard 
Varick about May or June, 1778. He then, 
and until the office was laid aside by Con- 
gress, acted as deputy Muster-Master-Gen- 
eral, and I had opportunity to observe his 
conduct in office and to acquire a knowledge 
of his private and political character ; in his 
office he was attentive, assiduous, faithful, 
and gave general satisfaction. His private 
character rendered him particularly agree- 
able and greatly respected by the officers of 
the army, and he was esteemed a gentleman 
of established principles, firmly pursuing the 
measures of the country, and always ready 

73 



to make every necessary sacrifice to support 
the independence of the United States; a 
man of great integrity and abilities, and, 
during my acquaintance with him, I have 
had just reason to beUeve he merited this 
opinion of him. 

Samuel H. Parsons, 
Brigadier-General. 

i6th October, 1780. 

VI 

Certificate of Major-General St. Clair 

This is to certify that I have had a per- 
sonal acquaintance with Lieutenant-Colonel 
Varick since the year 1776 ; that during that 
time I have known him in different sta- 
tions, first as secretary to General Schuy- 
ler, whose confidence he seemed fully to 
possess, afterwards as Muster-Master-Gen- 
eral in the Northern Department ; that I 
have attended at his musters, in which he 
ever appeared to be anxious to do justice to 
the United States, and from the whole tenor 
of his conduct, so far as it came under my 

74 



observation, down to the present hour, he 
appeared to be a firm friend to his country. 

Given under my hand, at the camp at 
Totawa, October 17, 1780. 

A. St. Clair, Major-General. 



VII 

Certificate of Brigadier-General Pater- 
son, ADDRESSED TO THE COURT OF INQUIRY 
ON THE CONDUCT OF COLONEL VARICK 

Camp Totawa, Oct. 19, 1780. 

I hereby certify on honor that I have been 
particularly acquainted with Colonel Varick 
ever since June, 1777, and have ever found 
him to be the diligent, industrious officer. 
He always appeared to be sincerely con- 
cerned for the cause of America, and never, 
by actions or words, gave me the least sus- 
picion to the contrary. 

John Paterson 

Having thus gone thro' the evidence on 
the two first periods from the commence- 
ment of the dispute and war between Great 

75 



Britain and America, and of my entering 
the service of my country, till my dismis- 
sion by Congress on the 12th of January last, 
in which, I trust, I have by written testi- 
mony, fully supported my allegations, I shall 
proceed to prove the propriety and uniform- 
ity of my conduct, as a good citizen and 
friend to my country, after my dismission 
by Congress until the 13th of August when 
I unfortunately joined the treacherous and 
perfidious Arnold. 



VIII 

Deposition of the Reverend Dyrck Romeyn 

State of New Jersey, } 



Bergen County. | 



ss 



The Reverend Dyrck Romeyn, of Hacken- 
sack, in the County of Bergen and State of 
New Jersey, being duly sworn, deposeth 
and saith : 

That being driven from his own habita- 
tion by the frequent incursions of the enemy, 
he did, some time in December last, take up 

76 



his abode at the house of Mr. John Varick, 
father of Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Varick 
at Hackensack; that he had some acquaint- 
ance with said Lieutenant-Colonel Richard 
Varick previous to the commencement of 
the present war, arising from their being 
born and in part educated at the same place ; 
that since December last he has had a per- 
fect and intimate knowledge of the political 
language and conduct of said Lieutenant- 
Colonel Varick and of his disposition to serve 
his country since his discharge from the 
army in January last ; that he has frequently 
conversed with him and has been an ob- 
server of his conduct from the time of his 
discharge from the army until the 12th day 
of August last, when the said Lieutenant- 
Colonel Varick left Hackensack to join the 
late General Arnold. 

That he does with the utmost pleasure and 
satisfaction declare that before and since the 
twenty-third of March last, when the enemy 
surprised the inhabitants of the town of Hack- 
ensack, the said Lieutenant-Colonel Varick 
did always by his conversation and good 
example exhort and encourage the inhabit- 

77 



ants of Hackensack, and to the best of his 
knowledge in other parts of Bergen County, 
being friends or well affected to the govern- 
ment of these States, as established upon the 
authority of the people, to abide by their 
integrity, to persevere in their resistance 
against the enemy, and not to be discour- 
aged by any apparent advantages the enemy 
might obtain. That said Lieutenant-Colonel 
Varick frequently declared to them that the 
United States of America had resources and 
power sufficient to expel the enemy from 
their country, and that although our public 
affairs appeared discouraging, he made no 
doubt but we would at last rise superior to 
every effort of the British or their adherents 
and abettors against the rights of this coun- 
try; and that as the Independence of America 
was a favorite object of the maritime powers 
of Europe they would never suffer her to fall 
a sacrifice to the merciless power of Great 
Britain. 

That since the twenty-third of March last 
the said Lieutenant-Colonel Varick, when at 
Hackensack (a few nights only excepted) did 
lodge every night with the few well affected, 

78 



who escaped captivity on said twenty-third 
of March last, and who assembled together 
and took shelter in some barn, hay barrack 
or other comparatively safe place, and did 
such duty as the situation and circumstances 
of the place required, by mounting guards 
and going on patroles as a private sentinel 
almost every second night, and by his salu- 
tary advice and services, as well as his spir- 
ited and good example to his distressed fel- 
low-citizens, rendered singular services to his 
country in that quarter, till he left Hacken- 
sack in August last. 

That the family of Mr. John Varick afore- 
said, as well as most of the immediate con- 
nections of said Lieutenant-Colonel Varick, 
are, to the best of the deponent's knowledge, 
well affected to the government of these 
States, as established on the authority of the 
people ; that said John Varick has, for his 
attachment to the cause of his country, suf- 
fered in an exemplary manner in both person 
and property by being dangerously wounded 
in December, 1776, and being made a prisoner 
from which he escaped and remained absent 
from his family until September, 1777, when, 

79 



on a visit with his family, he was surprised 
and again taken prisoner to New York and 
detained in provost and in the city until some 
time in October, 1778; and that his family 
has been frequently plundered and distressed 
by the enemy ; that from the above circum- 
stances and the unreproached character and 
uniform patriotic conduct as well as spirited 
language and exertions of said Lieutenant- 
Colonel Varick, on all occasions against the 
open enemies of the United States and their 
abettors, and also from his apparent invet- 
eracy against the disaffected who still re- 
mained in the country, said deponent was 
and now is fully and satisfactorily convinced 
that no well informed person had the least 
reason to doubt the attachment and integrity 
of said Lieutenant-Colonel Varick to the 
cause of the United States of America. 
And further the deponent saith not. 

D. ROMEYN 

Sworn before me this i8th October, 1780. 
Stirling, Major-General. 



80 



)LD 



By leave of the Court, I will next offer evi- 
dence of the terms tendered to me by, and 
on which I agreed to join, the late General 
Arnold ; which, as they are fully contained 
in a letter of the 5th August, from him to me, 
and in my answer of the 7th to him, and as 
my motives for rejoining the army are fully 
explained in a letter written by me on the 14th 
day of August to Colonel Udny Hay, then 
deputy Quartermaster-General at Fishkill, I 
shall forbear making any observations on 
that part of my conduct, but with leave of 
the Court, offer in evidence those several 
original letters in the order of their dates. 

81 



IX 



Copy of a letter from the late Major-Gen- 
ERAL Arnold, addressed to Colonel Rich- 
ard Varick at Colonel Dye-s, Parakanis 

Headquarters, Robinson's House, 
August 5, 1780. 

Dear Sir, — 

I am in want of a secretary, having within 
a few days been appointed to this command. 
General Schuyler informed me yesterday 
that he beHeved it would be agreeable to you, 
as the duty would engross only a part of your 
time and leave a considerable part for you 
to prosecute your studies, if you chose. 

I shall be happy to find the General is not 
mistaken, being with great regard, dear Sir, 
Your obedient, humble servant, 

B. Arnold 

P. S. As this has the appearance of a quiet 
post, I expect Mrs. Arnold will soon be with 
me. 

The bearer waits your answer. If my pro- 
posal should not be agreeable to you, per- 

82 



haps you can recommend a gentleman of 
industry and abilities of your acquaintance. 
— B. A. 



Copy of a letter from Lieutenant-Colonel 

Varick to the late Major-General Ar- 
nold 

Hackensack, New Jersey, 
Monday, 8 o'clock, A. M., August 7, 1780. 

Dear General, — 

Just this moment I am honored with your 
very polite favor of the 5th inst. 

I thank both you and General Schuyler 
for your politeness and the good opinion you 
are pleased to entertain of my merit. I am 
pleased in the opportunity of returning to 
and continuing in the army till the reduction 
of New York, and to serve in an office which 
will not be inconsistent with that course of 
life which must inevitably be my lot at the 
close of the war, and that under an officer, 
than whom none in the army claims greater 
respect from, and will be more agreeable to, 
me than yourself. I do therefore readily em- 

83 



brace your polite offer, and hope you may 
not be disappointed in your choice. 

The presence of Mrs. Arnold will certainly 
make our situation in the barren Highlands 
vastly more agreeable, and I am persuaded 
will more than compensate for every defi- 
ciency of Nature. 

As I had no idea of so favorable an oppor- 
tunity of ever reentering the army since my 
dismission by Congress, I had neglected 
keeping my clothes in that order which it is 
necessary to enter the army with. They are 
now in hand and will be finished in a few 
days. As soon as this is accomplished I pur- 
pose to join you. I expect to be with you by 
Sunday next. You may be assured, my dear 
Sir, I shall make as little delay as possible. 

Accept my most affectionate well wishes 
and believe me to be, with sentiments of 
regard, your most obedient and humble ser- 
vant, 

Richard Varick 

The Honorable Major-General Arnold. 



84 



I 



XI 



Copy of a letter from Lieutenant-Colo- 
nel Varick to Colonel Udny Hay, deputy 
Quartermaster-General at Fishkill 

Robinson's House, August 14, 1780. 

Dear Colonel, — 

Fickle Fortune is no less famed for her in- 
constancy than for the variety of changes it 
causes in the situation of its votaries, of whom 
I think this war has made me in every re- 
spect one. 

After passing a variety of scenes, since the 
commencement of the war to the last winter, 
I again became what in less troublesome 
days we called a private citizen, resolved no 
more to accustom myself to the inquietudes 
of military pursuits ; but in time to attempt 
the service of my country in the councils of 
state, where neither the favors or frowns of 
Congress would affect my feelings or repu- 
tation. But no sooner had I sat down to my 
desk, when the invaders of our land dis- 
turbed my retreat, and deprived me of a valu- 

85 



able share of the little property which yet 
remained my own after retiring from public 
service. Thus was I again reduced to the 
necessity of becoming a soldier in a more 
obscure, tho' not less honorable line, — that 
of a volunteer militiaman, — in which situa- 
tion I continued, till this day sennight [week], 
when, wearied and almost worn out by alter- 
nate watches, very unexpectedly I received 
a polite invitation from Major-General Ar- 
nold to become a member of his military 
family. 

Convinced that literary attainments were 
at least improbable, if not impossible, while 
the enemy possess our capital, so near the 
place of my residence in New Jersey, and 
averse to monthly contributions or personal 
service in the militia of that State, added to 
the inconveniences of quarterly heavy taxes, 
to which my disposition was averse and my 
reduced finances hardly adequate, unless 
supported by my father, which rendered my 
situation dependent on relations and conse- 
quently unhappy to myself, and loth to retire 
into the interior parts of our State to take up 
my books, while my fellow-countrymen were 

86 



acting in arms to effect the expulsion of the 
enemy from our capital, — I say, influenced 
by these reasons, with other private ones, I 
accepted of the General's offer, only to con- 
tinue with him till the reduction of New 
York, when I chose to quit public employ. 

Thus is my hand again become a slave to 
a military pen which some years' avocation 
have rendered pretty rusty, and the late mi- 
litia duty stiff and unmanageable. However, 
a few weeks will, I hope, restore both to my 
command. 

During my stay here (or I would say in 
the army) I shall be happy if your indefati- 
gable spirit will afford you a few moments 
for correspondence. You may be assured of 
my punctuality. 

I mean to pay my devoirs to Mrs. Hay, 
the first spare moment. In the meantime, 
pray make my best respects to her, and also 
those of my sister Jane, who requests them 
to yourself. 

I wish you every happiness, and remain, 
Very affectionately yours, 

Richard Varick 



87 



I shall here rest the evidence on the three 
first periods, in confidence that I have suffi- 
ciently proved what my conduct and char- 
acter were, prior to the unhappy day when 
I joined Arnold, as well as the motives and 
inducements I had to rejoin the army. 

I shall now, with the leave of the Court, 
enter upon the important and pointed objects 
of the Inquiry, and ofi"er testimony, both 
written and living, of Arnold's conduct after 
I joined him, and of every part of my public 
conduct during my service under him at 
Robinson's House, from the 13th August till 
the day of Arnold's desertion, and from that 
to the present day. 



88 



' J.JJ Ct For many 



iomc evil spirit. 



XII 

Copy of a letter from the late Major- 

General Arnold to his Excellency 

Governor Clinton 

Headquarters, Robinson's House, 
August 17, 1780. 

Dear Sir, — 

Joshua Smith, Esquire, of Haverstraw, in 
a letter of the 13th, applied to me for permits 
for two women, the one named Catherine 
John, with five children, and the other Eliza 
Gerard, with three children, to pass within 
the enemy's lines. 

He informs me that they and their children 
are in a starving condition here, and that they 

89 



have friends with the enemy, who, if they 
were there, might reUeve them. 

Sentiments of humanity would induce me 
to give them permits, if it be not inconsistent 
with the policy and the laws of the State. I 
shall, therefore, be very happy to receive 
your Excellency's advice on this subject, as 
well as on what line of conduct you wish to 
be observed, with respect to such inhabitants 
of this State as may in future apply to me for 
permits and flags to go to New York. 

I beg your answer on the subject, and am, 

with sentiments of great regard and esteem, 

your Excellency's most obedient and very 

humble servant, 

B. Arnold 

His Excellency, Governor Clinton. 

XIII 

Copy of a letter from his Excellency Gov- 
ernor Clinton to the late Major-General 
Arnold 

Poughkeepsie, August 22, 1780. 

Dear Sir, — 

I have received your favor of the 17th in- 
stant. 

90 



The practice hitherto pursued in granting 
passes to any of the inhabitants of this State 
applying to go within the enemy's lines, has 
been by application in the first instance to 
the person administering the government for 
his consent, which being obtained, the com- 
manding officer of the department has granted 
his pass for them to proceed. This has pre- 
vented, on the one hand, impositions which 
have been often attempted by persons no 
ways meriting indulgences or worthy of con- 
fidence ; on the other, a communication with 
the enemy at improper seasons, and, if agree- 
able to you, is the mode I wish to be pur- 
sued. 

"With respect to flags, few pass, and none 
are ever granted by the authority of the State, 
without previously consultingthe officer com- 
manding the department. 

I am, with the highest esteem and respect, 
dear Sir, your most obedient servant, 

Geo. Clinton 

To the Honorable Major-General Arnold. 



91 



XIV 

Copy of a letter from Lieutenant-Colonel 

RICHARD VARICK TO LlEUTENANT-COLONEL 

Robert Benson, Aide-de-camp to his Ex- 
cellency GOVERNOR Clinton 

Robinson's House, Aug. 24, 1780. 
ID o'clock, P. M. 

Dear Sir, — 

Some time since General Arnold received 
a letter from Jos. Smith, of the 13th, wherein 
Smith writes the General as follows : 

" The Governor of this State desired Gen- 
eral Howe, when in your command, to grant 
permits to such women to pass into New York 
whose husbands and relatives were there, pro- 
vided they did not return. This was sound 
policy as it took so many mouths from us to 
feed, and loaded the enemy with them. Be- 
sides, the object of our war is not to distress 
women and children. There are a couple of 
women who are in this predicament with 
children who are in a starving condition here, 
and think their friends in the city, if they 
were there, might relieve them. Motives of 

92 



humanity induce me to beg, if consistent, 
that you would transmit them a pass. Their 
names are below. I would be happy to hear 
from you on this subject." 

In consequence of this letter from Smith, 
the General wrote his Excellency Governor 
Clinton on the subject on the 17th, to which 
the Governor, in a letter of the 22d inst., writ- 
ten in your hand, authorizes General Arnold 
to grant passes in the mode I had always 
understood it to be customary in the State, 
to wit, by application, in the first instance, 
to the person administering the govern- 
ment. 

On comparison of that part of Smith's 
letter which I have above scored and the 
authority given to General Arnold in his 
Excellency's letter, there seems to be a differ- 
ence, which, if Smith's representation to the 
General be really true, I cannot reconcile. 
In his letter to General Arnold, agreeable 
to my opinion of the matter, he seems to 
convey the idea of a discretionary power to 
Howe, which I think a little extraordinary, 
and therefore have doubted whether it was 
founded in fact. For, as I had always been 

93 



informed that the mode mentioned in Gov- 
ernor Clinton's letter was practised, I was 
surprised that the Governor should have 
conferred so ample a power to General Howe, 
an utter stranger to the inhabitants of this 
State, who could not have the means of be- 
ing well informed of the characters applying 
to go in. I therefore supposed that Mr. Smith 
was not well informed on the subject and 
that the misrepresentation flowed from that 
source ; especially as the Governor has not, 
in his of the 17th, conveyed a similar power 
to Major-General Arnold, whose reputation 
as a friend to our country was supported by 
testimonials which General Howe could not 
adduce in support of his. I know of nothing 
to be said against the latter but much can be 
said in favor of the former. 

I have political reasons for inquiring into 
the truth of Mr. Smith's representation. It 
may be, and I am convinced long since in my 
own mind, that he wanted information on 
the subject. But, although General Arnold 
does conceal his sentiments from me on the 
subject of his Excellency's reserve of power 
to him, similar to that said to be conferred to 

94 



Howe in this respect, yet as a man of sense 
and sentiment he can't help seeing the differ- 
ence and feeling himself hurt : the supposed 
reserve conveys an idea of distrust. The 
General thinks well of Smith. I must confess 
that the conduct of the family will not permit 
me to do so, and I 've told the General so. I 
would therefore wish to gain information 
of what may be his real political character. 
Perhaps it may be in your power to give it. 
You may be assured of my confidence as far 
as may respect you. 

Sampson Dyckman does frequently come 
to General Arnold's headquarters. In his 
conversation he carries the appearance of a 
person well attached to our cause, but many 
hints have been given by a person in com- 
mand in the army that he is not to be trusted. 
Whether these insinuations proceed from 
prejudice or other sinister cause, or whether 
he is a character capable of so much dupli- 
city, I am at a loss to determine; I have 
known him many years ; I never heard any- 
thing against him, nor indeed anything in his 
favor. I know him to be attached to his pro- 
perty and that he will make use of at least 

95 



every fair means of getting money. I hope 
he will not be guilty of unfriendly practices 
to secure property. If he is friendly the 
General, I believe, would wish to make sure 
of him in a capacity which may render his 
services useful to the State. I have pro- 
mised to make inquiries on the subject, and 
I believe you can give me some information 
or get it at Poughkeepsie. I shall be happy 
to receive it and you may rely on secrecy, 
whatever the answer may be. 

I am, with sentiments of sincere regard 
and esteem, your friend and very humble ser- 
vant, 

Richard Varick 

XV 

Copy of a letter from Lieutenant-Colonel 
Robert Benson to Lieutenant-Colonel 
Richard Varick 

Poughkeepsie, September 19, 1780. 

Dear Sir, — 

I did not receive your letter of the 24th ult. 
until yesterday (by post from Albany) or I 
should have answered it sooner. 

96 



Soon after his Excellency the Governor 
entered upon his office General Gates, who 
then commanded in the Northern Depart- 
ment, granted permission to several of the 
inhabitants of Albany (who adhered to the 
enemy) to pass to New York. On their pas- 
sage they were stopped at New Windsor 
by the Governor, who refused to let them 
proceed, until they had given him their 
paroles as prisoners of the State to return 
when demanded, or to send out some of our 
subjects who were then in close confinement 
at New York in exchange. Since that time 
you may be assured, Sir, the constant rule 
has been, and the several commanding con- 
tinental officers in this State have constantly 
understood it to be, in the manner mentioned 
in his Excellency's letter to General Arnold 
on that subject. I do not recollect an in- 
stance to the contrary. It may be possible 
that upon some particular occasion General 
Howe may have been desired by the Gov- 
ernor to use his discretion with respect to 
particular persons, but I am sure it was not 
general. Therefore, Mr. Smith's information 
cannot be well founded, and I have reason 

97 



to believe that the Governor's confidence in 
General Arnold is such that he would not 
upon any occasion hesitate to confer on him 
any discretionary power which his predeces- 
sors have enjoyed. 

I know very little of Mr. Smith's political 
character. He has always, as far as I have 
heard, declared himself a whig ; but, from 
the conduct of his connections and his own 
loose character, I cannot persuade myself to 
think him entitled to the fullest confidence, 
and, if I can judge from appearances, the 
Governor has little or none in any of the 
family. With respect to Mr. Dyckman, he 
appeared to have the good opinion of Gene- 
ral Howe's family, and has for some time 
past been intimate in Colonel Undy Hay's 
family ; but what his real political character 
is I cannot take upon myself to determine ; 
neither do I know any of my acquaintances 
in this neighborhood who know more of him 
than I do. 

Agreeable to your request I have given 
you every information in my power on the 
subjects of your letter, and I trust you will 
make a proper and prudent use of it. 

98 



I am, with sincere friendship and respect, 
dear Sir, your most obedient servant, 

Robert Benson 
To Colonel Richard Varick. 

XVI 

Certificates of the honorable Brigadier- 
General Samuel H. Parsons, and of Mr. 
William Heron 

This certifies that Mr. William Heron, the 
subscriber of the following declaration, is a 
gentleman of unquestionable honor and in- 
tegrity and an established friend to the cause 
of his country ; and that the letter referred to 
is a letter signed Gustavus, directed to John 
Anderson in New York, a copy of which is 
herewith transmitted. 

Samuel H. Parsons, 

Brigadier-General. 

On the 29th of August last, I arrived at 
West Point, and made application to Gene- 
ral Arnold for a flag of truce, to go to Kings- 
bridge. The General told me he could not 

99 



attend on the business that day, being em- 
ployed in viewing the state of the works on 
the Point, but desired me to call at Robin- 
son's House next morning by 8 o'clock and 
he would dismiss me. I waited on him ac- 
cording to his directions. He intimated (by 
Colonel Varick) that I must wait two hours 
before he could dismiss me. I stayed (I be- 
lieve) a longer time than that. I sat in the 
room with Colonel Varick, when the General 
came in and desired the Colonel to write a 
permit (or a flag) for me, which he did, and 
the General signed it. The General then re- 
tired to his room and immediately sent word 
to me that he wanted to speak to me. I 
waited on him, and as soon as I entered 
the room (he being alone) he asked me if I 
thought the person with whom I expected 
to transact my business at the enemy's lines 
would deliver that letter (meaning a letter 
he held out to me) to the person to whom it 
was directed. I answered in the affirmative. 
He said if I could rely on him he should be 
obliged to me if I could give him (meaning 
the person I was to meet) a particular charge 
with regard to the delivery of the letter. As 

100 



soon as I received the letter and viewed the 
superscription, which was written in a feigned 
hand, I must confess that I felt a jealousy or 
a suspicion that I never before experienced 
concerning any person of his rank. A vari- 
ety of circumstances concurred to excite that 
suspicion : such as the very particular and 
significant manner in which he expressed 
himself when he delivered me the letter, its 
being sealed with a wafer, and then with 
wax, to give it the appearance of a letter 
which had been broken open for examina- 
tion (he giving me to understand that that 
had been the case), which upon examining 
the wafer I found to be entirely whole. I was 
well persuaded I was detained there while 
he was writing it. The aforegoing circum- 
stances when combined together were not 
all sufficient to raise my suspicion equal to 
the circumspection the General observed 
lest Colonel Varick should see the letter, or 
hear him (the General) giving me the charge 
concerning it. I concluded immediately it 
must relate to some matters which would 
not bear the test, else he would not observe 
so much privacy with regard to the Colonel, 

lOI 



whom I viewed then in place of the Gene- 
ral's confidential friend. Considering the im- 
pression the foregoing circumstances made 
on my mind, it will not be thought strange 
if I deemed it my duty to deliver the letter 
in question to General Parsons, instead of 
carrying it where it was directed, which I 
accordingly did on my return from the lines ; 
and, if I recollect right, I observed to the 
General that in my opinion Colonel Varick 
was in no way privy to it, and I am of the 
same opinion still ; and am ready to be qual- 
ified under oath, when required, as to the 
truth of the above and foregoing. 

William Heron 

The doing in the State of 
Connecticut, 26th October, 1 780. 



XVII 

Copy of a letter referred to in the fore- 
going DECLARATION AND SIGNED "GUSTAVUS" 

August 30, 1780. 

Sir,— 

On the 24th inst. I received a note from 
you, without date, in answer to mine of the 

102 



7th July ; also a letter from your house \_Sir 
Henry Clinton's Headquarters] of the 24th 
July in answer to mine of the 15th, with a 
note from B. [Sir Henry Clinton'] of the 30th 
July, with an extract of a letter from Mr. 
James Osborn of the 24th. I have paid par- 
ticular attention to the contents of the sev- 
eral letters. Had they arrived earlier, you 
should have had my answer sooner. A 
variety of circumstances has prevented my 
writing you before. I expect to do it very 
fully in a few days, and to procure you an 

interview with Mr. M e [Arnold]^ when 

you will be able to settle your commercial 
plan, I hope, agreeable to all parties. Mr. 

M e [Arnold] assures me that he is still 

of opinion that his first proposal is by no 
means unreasonable, and makes no doubt, 
when he has a conference with you, that you 
will close with it. He expects when you meet 
that you will be fully authorized from your 
House [Sir Henry Clinton] : that the risks 
and profits of the co-partnership may be 
fully and clearly understood. 

A speculation might at this time be easily 
made to some advantage with ready money 

103 



[the British Army], but there is not the 
quantity of goods [provisions and stores'] at 
market [West Point] which your partner 
seems to suppose, and the number of spec- 
ulators [the army at Tappan and Malcom's 
levies at Haverstraw] below, I think will be 
against your making an immediate purchase 
[attack]. I apprehend goods [provisions] 
will be in greater plenty [more provisions 
and less troops] and much cheaper in the 
course of the season ; both dry and wet [rum 
and flour] are much wanted and in demand 
at this juncture. Some quantities are ex- 
pected in this part of the country soon. 

Mr. M e [Arnold] flatters himself that 

in the course of ten days he will have the 
pleasure of seeing you. He requests me to 
advise you that he has ordered a draught on 

you in favor of our mutual friend, S y for 

£300, which you will charge on account of 
the tobacco. 

I am, in behalf of Mr. M e [Arnold] 

and Co., Sir, your most obedient, humble 
Servant, 

GUSTAVUS 
To Mr. John Anderson, Merchant, 
New York. 

104 



Copy of the letter referred to in Mr. Her- 
on's declaration. 

Samuel H. Parsons, 

Brigadier-General. 

Colonel Harrison's Certificate on Copy of the 
preceding letter signed " Gustavus " 

I hereby certify that the within is a true 
copy of a letter in the possession of his Ex- 
cellency General Washington in a hand- 
writing evidently disguised ; that this letter 
was transmitted him by Brigadier-General 
Parsons, the ist of October instant, who then 
said it was from General Arnold, and by a 
subsequent letter, that it was delivered by 
Arnold on the 30th of August to a person 
who had obtained permission from him to go 
into New York, who — suspecting it might 
contain something illicit, from the extraordi- 
nary precautions used by Mr. Arnold with 
respect to it when he gave it — did not de- 
liver it in New York, but after his return put 
it into his (General Parsons's) hands on the 
loth of September. That it should have been 
forwarded earlier to his Excellency, but sup- 

105 



posing it to refer merely to commerce, he 
chose rather to make it a subject of private 
conversation than of a letter ; and that on 
his arrival his Excellency was just leaving 
camp (alluding to his visit to meet their Ex- 
cellencies the Count de Rochambeau and 
the Chevalier de Tunay at Hartford), so that 
it was left to the ripening of the horrid event 
to detect the unsuspected instrument. 

The copy of the within letter was requested 
by Colonel Varick and is given him by per- 
mission of the Commander-in-Chief. 



October 17, 1780. 



RoBT. H. Harrison, 

Secretary, 



xvni 

Extract of a letter from the late Ma- 
jor-General Arnold to Colonel Elisha 
Sheldon 

Headquarters, Robinson's House, 
September i, 1780. 

I wish to be informed if the person you 
mentioned to me is returned from his ex- 
cursion. On considering the matter I am 

106 



convinced that material intelligence might 
be procured through the channel I men- 
tioned. 

I am, with sentiments of the most sin- 
cere regard and esteem, dear Sir, your most 
humble servant, 

B. A. 

To Colonel Elisha Sheldon- 



XIX 

Extract of a letter from the late major- 
General Arnold to Colonel Sheldon 

Headquarters, Robinson's House, 
September 7, 1780. 

I am sorry the person you refer to is not 
returned. I wish to see him as soon as he 
does, as I am in hopes through him to open 
a channel of intelligence that may be de- 
pended upon. 

I am much obliged to you for the care you 
have taken to procure the articles for the 
ladies. I will write General Parsons on the 
subject, and you need not apprehend any 
difficulty, as we are on the most friendly 
footing. 

107 



Since I saw you I have had an opportu- 
nity of transmitting a letter to the person in 
New York of whom I made mention, and 
am in expectation of procuring a meeting at 
your quarters. If I can bring this matter 
about, as I hope I will, I shall open a chan- 
nel of intelligence that will be regular and 
to be depended upon. 

I am, with great regard and esteem, dear 
Sir, your obedient, humble servant, 

B. Arnold 

To Colonel Sheldon. 



XX 

Copy of a letter from colonel Sheldon 
to the late major-General Arnold 

Lower Salem, September 9, 1780. 

Dear Sir, — 

Enclosed I send you a letter which I re- 
ceived last evening from New York, signed 
"John Anderson," who mentions his name 
being made known to me ; if this is the per- 
son you mentioned in your favor of yester- 
day, he must have received his information 

108 



by your letter, as I never heard his name 
mentioned before I received the letter. I 
hope you will not fail meeting him at Dobbs's 
Ferry. If you cannot meet him yourself, 
pray send a person you can confide in. I 
am so much out of health, I shall not be 
able to ride that distance in one day. 

I am, dear Sir, with great esteem and re- 
gard, your most obedient and very humble 
servant, 

Elisha Sheldon 

To Major-General Arnold. 

XXI 

Copy OF A LETTER FROM MR. JOHN ANDERSON 

TO Colonel Elisha Sheldon 

New York, 7th September, 1780. 

Sir,— 

I am told my name is made known to 
you, and that I may hope your indulgence 
in permitting me to meet a friend near your 
outposts. I will endeavor to obtain permis- 
sion to go out with a flag, which will be sent 
to Dobbs's Ferry on Monday next, the nth, 
at 12 o'clock, when I shall be happy to meet 

109 



Mr. G . Should I not be allowed to go, 

the officer who is to command the escort, 
between whom and myself no distinction 
need be made, can speak on the affair. 

Let me entreat you, Sir, to favor a matter 
so interesting to the parties concerned, and 
which is of so private a nature that the pub- 
lic on neither side can be injured by it. 

I shall be happy on my part to do any act 
of kindness to you in a family or property 
concern of a similar nature. 

I trust I shall not be detained, but should 
any old grudge be a cause for it, I shall 
rather risk that than neglect the business in 
question, or assume a mysterious charac- 
ter to carry on an innocent affair ; and, as 
friends have advised, get to your lines by 
stealth. 

I am, Sir, with all regard, your most obe- 
dient humble servant, 

John Anderson 

To Colonel Sheldon. 



1 10 



XXII 

Copy of a letter from the late Major- 
General Arnold to Colonel Sheldon 

Headquarters, Robinson's House, 
September lo, 1780. 

Dear Sir, — 

I received your favor of yesterday last 
night. You judge right. I wrote Mr. Ander- 
son the 3rd inst., requesting him to meet me 
at your quarters, and informed him I had 
hinted the matter to you, and that you would 
send any letter to me, or inform me of his 
arrival. I did not mention his name in my 
letter to you, as I thought it unnecessary. I 
was obliged to write with great caution to 
him. My letter was signed "Gustavus," to 
prevent any discovery in case it fell into the 
hands of the enemy. 

From the tenor of Mr. Anderson's letter, 
in particular that part where he says " the 
officer who commands the escort, between 
whom and myself no distinction need be 
made, can speak on the affair," I am led to 
conjecture my letter has been intercepted; 

III 



there are several things in the letter which 
appear mysterious. 

As you are unwell, and I want to go to 
Verplanck's Point to give directions in some 
matters there, I am determined to go as far 
as Dobbs's Ferry and meet the flag. 

If Mr. Anderson should not be permitted 
to come out in the flag, and should find 
means to come to your quarters, I wish you 
to send an express to let me know, and send 
two or three horsemen to conduct him on 
the way to meet me, as it is difficult for me 
to ride so far. If your health will permit, I 
wish you to come with him. I have pro- 
mised him your protection, and that he shall 
return in safety. I am convinced of his 
inclination to serve the public, and if he 
has received my letter, and in consequence 
thereof should come to your quarters, I 
make no doubt to fix on a mode of intelli- 
gence that will answer my wishes. If Gen- 
eral Parsons is arrived, I wish you to show 
him my letter and tell him my request is to 
have Mr. Anderson escorted to meet me. 

Please to write me by return of the ex- 
press, through what channel you received 

112 



Mr. Anderson's letter and if your emissary 
is returned. 

I am, with great regard and esteem, dear 
Sir, your most obedient and humble servant, 

B. Arnold 

To Colonel Sheldon. 

XXIII 

Copy postscript of a letter from the late 
Major-General Arnold to Major Tall- 

MADGE 

Headquarters, Robinson's House, 
September 13, 1780. 

If Mr. James Anderson, a person I expect 
from New York, should come to your quar- 
ters, I have to request that you will give him 
an escort of two horsemen to bring him on 
his way to this place and send an express to 
me, that I may meet him. If your business 
will permit, I wish you to come with him. 

XXIV 

Deposition of Lieutenant-Colonel Robert 

H. Harrison, secretary to his Excel- 

lency General Washington 

Colonel Richard Varick having solicited 
"3 



his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief for 
a Court of Inquiry to examine into his con- 
duct, on account of his being in, and one 
of, the late Major-General Arnold's family 
when he fled to the enemy on the 25th of 
September last, and having requested me to 
attend the Court in order to testify in what 
light his conduct appeared to me when the 
discovery was made of Mr. Arnold's escape, 
and the correspondence he had been carry- 
ing on with the enemy, which occasioned it 
— or to give my deposition, in case circum- 
stances would not permit me to attend — I 
do make oath on the Holy Evangelists of 
Almighty God (circumstances not permit- 
ting me to attend the Court of Inquiry) that I 
was at Robinson's House in the Highlands, 
on the 25th of September, with his Excel- 
lency the Commander-in-Chief, when he re- 
ceived information of the capture of Major 
Andre, Adj utant-General to the British Army, 
and the papers which had been found upon 
him, and of Mr. Arnold's having gone down 
the river; that Colonel Varick and Major 
Franks were there at the time, and from 
every circumstance in their conduct and 

114 



deportment, both before the Commander- 
in-Chief received the information of these 
events, as well as after, it appeared to me 
that they were entirely ignorant both of the 
treacherous correspondence Mr. Arnold had 
been carrying on with the enemy, and his 
intentions to escape. Every circumstance 
that I saw led me to believe they were not 
privy to either, and their air, their manner, 
the whole tenor of their behavior appeared 
to me strongly to characterize their inno- 
cence. Robert H. Harrison 

Sworn before me, the subscriber. Chief 
Justice of New Jersey, the 21st day of Octo- 
ber, 1780. David Brearley 

XXV 

Deposition of Lieutenant-Colonel Richard 
K. Meade, Aide-de-camp to his Excel- 
lency General Washington 

Colonel Varick having requested the Com- 
mander-in-Chief to grant him a Court for 
the purpose of inquiring into his conduct, as 
it might be imagined to be connected with 

"5 



General Arnold's traitorous designs, and de- 
siring me to attend the Court, and not being 
able to comply with his request, I do swear 
on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God 
that I arrived at Robinson's House some 
time in the afternoon on the day of Arnold's 
flight, and shortly after was informed that he 
had gone to the enemy. The Commander- 
in-Chief desired both Colonel Varick and 
Major Franks (two gentlemen of General Ar- 
nold's family) to consider themselves under 
arrest. They voluntarily delivered me the 
keys of their chests, which they afterwards 
had occasionally. Both these gentlemen re- 
peatedly expressed their anxiety to have me 
search their chests, which I was as much op- 
posed to, from a conviction founded on their 
behavior, that they were entirely free from 
any knowledge of Arnold's treacherous de- 
signs. At length, and after Major Franks's 
departure, who accompanied Mrs. Arnold to 
Philadelphia, Colonel Varick urged the ex- 
amination of his chests so pressingly that I 
yielded to his solicitations, but still without 
the most distant suspicion of making any 
discovery unfavorable to this gentleman. I 

ii6 



h 



V\ 



N 



J 



\ 

\ 



r 





\l 



\ . 





^ 




■<^ 




#• 






^x 




^q ^ 



Si 








could not, consistent with my feelings, make 
so minute a search as he seemed to wish 
and as I would have made under other cir- 
cumstances; but I must declare in justice to 
Colonel Varick, that from his behavior and 
from the view which I took of his papers, 
there was not in my opinion the least room 
to suspect his fidelity. 

R. K. Meade 

Sworn before me, the subscriber, Chief 
Justice of the State of New Jersey, the 21st 
day of October, 1780. 

David Brearley 



XXVI 

Deposition of the honorable Brigadier- 
General Henry Knox 

Colonel Richard Varick, of the late Gen- 
eral Arnold's family, having requested me 
to declare what I know concerning his be- 
havior on the day of Arnold's flight, and on 
the days subsequent whilst I was at West 
Point, — 

In justice to the said Colonel Varick, I 
117 



think myself bound to say, that on the dis- 
covery of Arnold's treachery, there was not 
a single circumstance to induce a suspicion 
that either he or Major David Franks was 
knowing or privy to the perfidy or flight 
of Arnold. That Colonel Varick and Major 
Franks gave ready and decided answers to 
such questions respecting Arnold as were 
asked them, and willingly produced all pa- 
pers belonging to him that were in their 
possession, or that they could find, — a par- 
ticular instance of which was exhibited by 
Colonel Varick two days after the first dis- 
covery. By a critical research in a trunk 
where Arnold's clothes were deposited, he 
found the plans and profiles of each work at 
West Point in a separate paper, which he 
instantly brought to his Excellency General 
Washington. It was until that time sup- 
posed that Arnold had carried off these pa- 
pers with him. 

Also that I frequently examined the papers 
detected upon Major Andre, all of which 
were written in Arnold's own hand. And 
that nothing appeared upon Major Andre's 
trial before the general officers of the army, 

Ii8 



of whom I was one, to prove that he had 
ever been at Robinson's House ; but he de- 
clared that the meeting at Smith's House 
was his first personal communication with 
Arnold. 

H. Knox, 
Brigadier-General Artillery. 

Personally appeared before me Brigadier- 
General Knox, and made solemn oath to the 
truth of the foregoing relation. 

Nath. Greene, 
Major-General. 

Precaness, October 22, 1780. 

The Court adjourned till Sunday, 5th, at 
nine o'clock A. M. 



119 




November 5, Sunday, nine o'clock a. m., the 
Court met pursuant to adjournment 

Major David S. Franks appearing before 
the Court as a witness, was interrogated by 
Lieutenant-Colonel Varick, and answered as 
follows: — 

Question. — i. Were you in the late Major- 
General Arnold's family, when I joined it? 
When was it ? In what capacity was I em- 
ployed? And did I ever communicate to you 
my views in joining Arnold ? When and in 
what manner ? And did I, or did I not, ever 
suggest to you any dissatisfaction that the 
terms offered me by him and on which I 
joined him were not complied with? 

120 



Answer. — I was at Robinson's House in 
the late Major-General Arnold's family 
when you joined it as secretary, on the 13th 
August last. You communicated your views 
to me at that time for rejoining the Army, 
which, among others, were that in render- 
ing service to your country you might also 
have leisure hours for study, and from the 
close attention which you were obliged to 
give to writing in the office you were dis- 
appointed and much dissatisfied. You also 
showed me a letter of yours to Colonel Hay, 
of the 14th August, explaining your reasons 
for rejoining the Army more at large. 

Question. — 2. Did not you, on account of 
some indignities and repeated affronts of- 
fered you by Arnold, declare to Dr. Eustis 
and myself, and on other occasions to me 
alone, that you would not stay with him? 
What were my declarations on that particu- 
lar as well as on the other occasions ? 

Answer. — I had for some months been 
dissatisfied with Arnold's deportment to- 
wards me, and mentioned it to you several 
times, with my positive determination to 
leave him. On my mentioning this resolu- 

121 



tion to you and Dr. Eustis one day, you said 
that you must also leave him, lest he should 
treat you in the same manner; but I told 
you that he would not do it till you had 
stayed two or three years with him. 

Question. — 3. Did not Arnold go in his 
barge to King's Ferry repeatedly ? How 
often, with what declared intentions, and 
did I ever accompany him, to your know- 
ledge? 

Answer. — I never knew of his going but 
twice: once when he met Mrs. Arnold and 
myself on my return from Philadelphia; and 
afterwards when he went, as he said, to dis- 
pose of Meigs's Regiment, both of which 
times you remained at Robinson's House. 

Question. — 4. Did, or did not, Joshua H. 
Smith often come to Arnold's quarters, and 
whether before or after Mrs. Arnold arrived, 
or how long after? And did not I testify my 
hearty dislike to his visits, and on what ac- 
count? And did I, or did I not, often, and 
very soon after my joining Arnold, and after- 
wards on all occasions when Smith's name 
was mentioned, freely and with apparent 
design, express my opinion of his moral and 

122 



political character, both before Arnold and 
Mrs. Arnold, and what was it ? 

Answer. — He came to the house after 
Mrs. Arnold arrived, twice to my knowledge 
and never before. The first time was the 
next day after I came from Philadelphia, 
when he stayed two nights, and the other, 
when he dined with us on his way to Fish- 
kill on the 23rd September. You always 
expressed your dislike in very warm terms, 
at his visits to our family, as you said you 
knew him to be a very great liar and thought 
him an enemy to this country, hid under the 
mask of friendship. You reprobated him, 
and often, with apparent design, declared 
freely your sentiments of him before Arnold. 

Question. — 5. Did I, or did I not, inform 
you, and at what time, that on the night of 
the 17th, when Joshua H. Smith and his 
wife had come to visit Mrs. Arnold, I had a 
warm political dispute with him, and that I 
had affronted him, and the reasons for my 
so doing? 

Answer. — On my return from Peekskill 
on the i8th, when I had accompanied Ar- 
nold to meet his Excellency on his way to 

123 



Hartford, you told me you had affronted 
Johsua Smith the preceding night in a politi- 
cal conversation, for his asserting that Amer- 
ica might have made an honorable peace 
with Great Britain when the commissioner 
came out in 1778. And the same day Mrs. 
Arnold told me of the dispute of the preced- 
ing evening and added that Colonel Varick 
was, in her opinion, a very " warm and 
staunch Whig." 

Question. — 6. Did I not inform you, on 
your return from Philadelphia with Mrs. Ar- 
nold, that Arnold had written, and by whom, 
a letter ( which I had not seen ) in a mercan- 
tile style to a person in New York whose 
fictitious name was John Anderson, to es- 
tablish a line of intelligence of the ene- 
my's movements, and what was your reply 
to me? Did I not show to you Anderson's 
letter to Colonel Sheldon and Sheldon's to 
and from Arnold on the subject ? And did I 
ever, to your knowledge or belief, withhold 
any papers in my custody from your peru- 
sal? 

Answer. — You told me that Arnold had 
written a letter to one John Anderson in 

124 



New York, in a mercantile style, to cover 
the design of getting intelligence of the 
enemy's movements from him; that you 
was also apprehensive that his letter was 
intercepted, as the answer from Anderson 
to Colonel Sheldon expressed an extreme of 
caution and referred him to the officer who 
conducted the flag for further information. 
I told you that I thought Arnold had corre- 
sponded with Anderson or some such name 
before from Philadelphia, and had got in- 
telligence of consequence from him. All 
the public papers were open to my inspec- 
tion, but I never saw the letters before men- 
tioned. 

Question. — 7. Did I, or did I not, inform 
you before, and how long before, Arnold's 
desertion that I had often conversed with him 
on the subject of his intimacy with Smith, 
and that I had begged him to discontinue it, 
from a regard to his own reputation in this 
State, and what were his replies as then re- 
lated by me to you ? 

Answer. — You did inform me that you 
had warned Arnold against associating with 
Smith, as you mention, and that he assured 

125 



you that he would not put it in Smith's power 
to hurt him or his country. 

Question. — 8. When Arnold went down 
to King's Ferry on the 21st September and 
did not return that evening, did we not sup- 
pose him to have gone to Smith's, and what 
were my declared resolutions on that occa- 
sion ? And did we not take any, and what, 
measures to prevent a further intimacy be- 
tween them ? 

Answer. — When he went down on the 
2ist September, we did suppose he was gone 
to Smith's, and you expressed much displea- 
sure, and said that Arnold had used you ill 
in not crediting what you said of Smith, and 
avowed you would leave him if he continued 
his intimacy with Smith. We begged Mrs. 
Arnold to use her influence with Arnold to 
prevent it, which she did, and told you he 
had promised her to have nothing more to 
do with Smith. 

Question. — 9. Did you, or did you not, 
then inform me that Arnold was an avari- 
cious man, and that you suspected he meant 
to enter into trade by means of flags and the 
unprincipled rascal Smith ? Pray inform the 

126 



court of the reasons assigned for your sus- 
picions, what my reply and our mutual en- 
gagements on honor on the occasion were? 

Answer. — I did tell you that I thought 
Arnold was an avaricious man, and from 
circumstances imagined he had some com- 
mercial plan in agitation with some people 
in New York under the sanction of his own 
command and thro' the rascal Smith. My 
principal reasons for thinking so were the 
relation you had given me concerning the 
correspondence with Anderson and his sub- 
sequent eagerness to get intelligence from 
New York. We agreed on honor to leave 
him, if our doubts were confirmed. 

Question. — lo. Was not Smith at Arnold's 
quarters on the 23rd September ? What was 
my language and conduct to him and Arnold 
on that day, to your knowledge? Was there 
ever any difference between Arnold and me 
prior thereto? And did I, on the 24th, inform 
you of the continuance of the difference be- 
tween Arnold and myself, after you left us 
on the 23rd? What was my information? 
And did I not, in confidence, show you a let- 
ter of the 19th September from Colonel Ben- 

127 



son, of Governor Clinton's family, to me, and 
what were my observations thereon ? 

Answer. — Smith came to dinner with us 
on the 23rd September. A dispute arose be- 
tween you and him, in which I bore a part. 
The subject was the little value of Conti- 
nental money, of which Smith spoke disre- 
spectfully. Arnold, at and after dinner, took 
me to task for affronting Smith. I requested 
him to give me a discharge from his family. 
I went up to Newburgh on business and left 
him and you together, who took all the 
blame of offending Smith on yourself, and 
on my return next day you informed me that 
you had continued the dispute about Smith 
with Arnold, who said that he was always 
ready to receive advice from the gentlemen 
of his family, but, by God, would not be dic- 
tated to by them, and that he thought he had 
as much prudence as those gentlemen. That 
you showed him a letter from Governor 
Clinton's secretary, which you had that even- 
ing received and which gave Smith's charac- 
ter in its proper light as a dissembling scoun- 
drel and an enemy to the country, on which 
he promised you never to go to Smith's house 

128 



again, nor be seen with him but in company. 
There never was any difference between you 
and Arnold prior to this dispute. 

Question. — ii. Did not Arnold, on the 
25th September, receive one or more letters 
by a militia officer ? Did you see the con- 
tents? Was I present, or where was I at the 
time? Did Arnold come into my room, or 
did I see him thereafter? What was his con- 
duct ? Was I informed thereof, and when ? 
By whom and in what manner ? Did I, to 
your knowledge, see the officer, and at what 
time of day ? When you mentioned your sus- 
picions what was my reply and our reflec- 
tions on the subject? What time of day did 
I mention to you my apprehensions of Ar- 
nold's rascality? What did I assign as the 
cause of my fears ? And did we not thereupon 
instantly communicate in confidence our 
suspicions to Dr. Eustis? 

Answer. — Arnold, I believe, did receive 
two letters by a militia officer, tho' I did not 
see them. You did not see them, I am sure ; 
you was sick in your own room. Arnold did 
not come into it, nor did you see him after 
breakfast that day. His conduct was, that 

129 



soon after he received the letters above men- 
tioned he went upstairs to his lady. In about 
two minutes his Excellency General Wash- 
ington's servant came to the door and in- 
formed me that his Excellency was nigh at 
hand. I went immediately upstairs and in- 
formed Arnold of it. He came down in great 
confusion, and, ordering a horse to be sad- 
dled, mounted him and told me to inform 
his Excellency that he was gone over to 
West Point, and would return in about an 
hour. His Excellency came about half an 
hour after Arnold went off, and after taking 
breakfast, went to West Point. Soon after 
Mrs. Arnold's unhappy situation called us 
all to her assistance. Her alarms, together 
with Arnold's precipitate departure, gave 
me much uneasiness. I hoped to see him 
return soon, and you and myself were about 
to send for him. 

An hour and a half, or thereabout, after he 
was gone, a report was spread about our 
quarters of a spy, of the name of John An- 
derson, being detected nigh our lines. On 
my hearing it, I flew to you with undescrib- 
able agitation and told you I was sure Ar- 

130 



nold was a villain; but, on reflection and 
further conversation, we agreed that it was 
uncharitable, and that we were not war- 
ranted to think so, and that, if any bad con- 
sequences were to ensue to Arnold from our 
suspicions, our characters were ruined. 

Soon after his Excellency returned from 
West Point, where he had been some con- 
siderable time and during which Mrs. Arnold 
was in the most alarming distress of mind. 
You were frequently with her and informed 
me that she had complained that she had no 
friends, — she was left alone, and that on your 
telling her that she had many friends here, 
enumerating yourself, me and General Ar- 
nold ; on your mentioning him she exclaimed 
in an agony of grief, " Oh, no, he is gone ; 
gone forever ! " This at last confirmed your 
and my suspicions, which were communi- 
cated to Dr. Eustis immediately. 

Question. — 12. On his Excellency General 
Washington's return from West Point, did I 
not wait on him, at Mrs. Arnold's instance, 
to request him to see her, and did we not 
think that the most eligible mode of convey- 
ing our anxious fears and suspicions of Ar- 

131 



nold's business to him was by letting him 
see her unhappy situation ? 

Answer. — You did accompany his Ex- 
cellency to Mrs. Arnold's apartment for the 
purposes you mention, as agreed on be- 
tween us. 

Question. — 13. Had you ever, from your 
frequent conversations with me, or from your 
observations on every part of my conduct, 
from the day of my joining Arnold till the 
23rd August when you went to Philadelphia, 
or from the 15th September when you re- 
turned, until the 25th, when he fled to the 
enemy, or since that date till now, the most 
distant cause to suspect my having any 
agency in, or being privy to, his destructive 
and horrid designs against his country ? Or 
had you, from any circumstances whatever, 
either before or since, any suspicion that I 
was informed of his desertion, until the hour 
when I mentioned to you my fear on that 
head ? And at what time was I fully advised 
of Arnold's treachery and perfidy, and by 
whom? 

Answer. — I never had; nor had I the 
slightest shadow of suspicion that you was 

132 



privy to, much less concerned in, Arnold's 
wicked and treasonable practices, and it was 
late in the day before either of us was as- 
certained of his perfidy and desertion. We 
were then informed of it by his Excellency 
General Washington. 

Question. — 14. Was there not the greatest 
intimacy and apparent confidential friend- 
ship between you and me, as well as be- 
tween Arnold and me ? And was I ever, in 
your opinion, reserved to either you or him 
in speaking my opinion, in a friendly style, 
on any part of his conduct which I thought 
exceptionable ? 

Answer. — There was always a great de- 
gree of friendship and confidential intimacy 
between you and myself. You and Arnold 
were very intimate. You never were re- 
served to either of us, in speaking your 
opinion of him, or any part of his conduct 
which you thought exceptionable. 

Question. — 15. Did I not object to the 
tenor of a letter written by him to Colonel 
Beverly Robinson, on or about the i8th 
September, and, on my representation to 
him, did I not alter it ? What was the sub- 

133 



ject of the letter, and my exceptions thereto 
and alterations therein? 

Answer. — You did object to and alter a 
letter of his, in answer to Colonel Beverly 
Robinson, which you thought seemed to 
court a correspondence with him, observing 
at the same time that Arnold's letter to him 
bore the complexion of one from a friend 
rather than one from an enemy, and that 
Robinson was very obnoxious to the State 
of New York. 

Question. — 16. Did I not inform you soon 
after my joining Arnold that I would have 
no connection with his family arrangements 
or his stores, and that I would not act as 
a caterer or steward ; and what were my 
reasons therefor ? 

Answer. — You did; and your reasons 
were that it would take up the time you 
intended to give to study. 

Question. — 17. Did, or did not, Arnold de- 
clare that he had 10,000 rations due to him 
since 1775, 1776 and 1777, for which he could 
not get an adequate compensation, and that 
he would in future draw all his rations ? 

Answer. — He did frequently, and that he 
134 



would never leave his rations again in the 
hands of the public. 

Question. — 18. Did I, or did I not, inform 
you on your arrival from Philadelphia with 
Mrs. Arnold that Arnold had sent for a 
Captain Robinson, a skipper, and asked him 
to sell some rum for him, and that I had 
prevented any intercourse between them by 
informing Arnold that Robinson was a 
Tory? And did I, or did I not, also inform 
you that he had bargained with Captain 
Bard for the sale of three barrels of pork, 
and that I had prevailed on him to lay aside 
his intentions by representing to him that 
he would incur disgrace if he did sell any 
provisions, especially when that article was 
in such serious demand at the post? 

Answer. — You informed me that Mr. Rob- 
inson had been spoken to by Arnold, and 
that you had prevented his employing him 
to sell rum ; but I do not recollect mention- 
ing anything as to Mr. Bard or the pork. 
You did tell me that you had prevailed on 
him to decline selling stores, as you mention. 

Question. — 19. What public stores did Ar- 
nold draw for his use? What became of 

135 



them, and what stores were left in my charge 
for our use, and subject, to be accounted for 
and to whom ? And what private stores of 
his were left by Mrs. Arnold in my hands 
for our use ? 

Answer. — I do not know precisely what 
stores Arnold drew, nor what became of the 
whole. I am informed that part of them, 
being the whole unopened stores, were re- 
turned by you to the commissary ; that there 
were some broken stores, to wit, some pork, 
dry codfish and shad, about loo lbs. flour, 
and 40 lbs. biscuit, of public stores, left in 
your hands for our use, subject to be ac- 
counted for to the commissary when our In- 
quiry should be finished. Mrs. Arnold left us 
a little tea, coffee, chocolate, sugar, Madeira 
wine and some salmon and old spirits, as 
well as some biscuits of her private stores 
for our use. 

Question. — 20. On what day did you go 
to Philadelphia with Mrs, Arnold, and when 
did you return? 

Anstver. — I left Robinson's House on the 
27th September, and returned there again on 
the i6th October. 

136 



XXVII 

Copy of Interrogatories to Doctor Wil- 
liam eustis, by lleutenant-colonel 

VARICK, and answers THERETO 

Question. — i. Were you, and did you 
quarter at Robinson's House when I joined 
the late General Arnold's family? When 
was it, and how was I employed during the 
time of my service with him? Was I often, 
to your knowledge, absent from Robinson's 
House or from my duty, and how often, 
when and where ? 

Answer. — I was stationed at Robinson's 
House on Sunday, the 13th of August, when 
you joined the late General Arnold's family. 
You appeared to me to be constantly em- 
ployed in writing, and, excepting once to 
Fishkill and two or three times to West 
Point, I scarcely recollect an instance of your 
being absent from Robinson's House. 

Question. — 2. Did I ever inform you of 
my views in joining Arnold, and did I, or 

137 



did I not, often suggest to you my dissatis- 
faction on being obliged to do so much fa- 
tiguing duty without assistance ? 

Answer. — You have repeatedly informed 
me that you entered Arnold's family in expec- 
tation of having hours for study and that you 
were dissatisfied at your constant confine- 
ment to the writing table. 

Question. — 3. As I was intimate and so- 
cial with you at every period of the time of 
my service with Arnold and since his deser- 
tion, pray inform the Court whether I did, or 
did not, sport my political sentiments very 
freely before you? What they were, and 
whether spoken with the ardor and ani- 
mation which characterizes an active and 
anxious friend of my country, or in a cold, 
phlegmatic and indifferent manner ? 

Answer. — Whenever the situation of our 
country has been the subject, your conversa- 
tion was such as became her warmest and 
most zealous friends. 

Question. — 4. When Major Franks, on 
the i8th September, on account of some af- 
fronts and indignities offered him by Arnold, 
declared to us in confidence his determina- 

138 



tion to leave him, did I not also declare that 
I would not stay, lest he should take the same 
liberty with me ? 

Answer. — I recollect the conversation, and 
you did. 

Question. — 5. Did not Arnold often, to 
your knowledge, go down the river to King's 
Ferry in his barge? How often, when, and 
for what declared purposes ; and did I ever 
accompany him ? 

Answer. — He went down the river on the 
8th of September, as was said, to bring up 
Mrs. Arnold. On the loth or nth he went 
down, and on his return I was informed he 
had been to Dobbs's Ferry, and had been 
fired on by the enemy's gun boats. On the 
14th he went to meet Mrs. Arnold at Smith's. 
Mrs. Arnold returned with him the next day. 
A fourth time he went down (for what pur- 
pose I know not), and the day following re- 
turned with Colonel Gray and Major Leav- 
ensworth. You did not accompany him at 
either time. 

Question. — 6. Did, or did not, Mr. Joshua 
Smith come to Arnold's quarters often, and 
whether before or after Mrs. Arnold's arrival? 

139 



Answer. — Mr. Smith, with his wife and 
nephew, came to Arnold's quarters the day 
after Mrs. Arnold's arrival and remained two 
nights. He was there once or twice after- 
wards, but I cannot ascertain the precise 
days. 

Question. — 7. Did I, or did I not, both 
before and after Mrs. Arnold's arrival, give 
you my sentiments of Smith's moral and po- 
litical character? How soon after my join- 
ing Arnold, and what was it ? 

Answer. — You have repeatedly, and par- 
ticularly at his first visit, told me he was a 
damned rascal, and that you were disgusted 
at his visits. 

Question. — 8. Did I, or did I not, inform 
you, on the second night of Smith's first visit, 
that I had had a political dispute with him 
on that evening in the presence of Mrs. Ar- 
nold, and that I had affronted him ? And did 
I, or did I not, acquaint you with my reasons 
for doing it, and what were they ? 

Answer. — You did, and for his asserting 
that when the commissioners came out in 
1778, America might have made a safe and 
honorable peace. 

140 



Question. — g. Did I, or did I not, on Sat- 
urday, the 23rd of September, enter your 
dining room, and with an apparent degree 
of pleasure, inform you that I had design- 
edly affronted Smith at Arnold's table, and 
the manner of it? 

Answer. — I recollect your having told me 
that you had affronted Smith at table in a 
dispute which was introduced by the price 
of a bottle of oil. 

Question. — 10. Was I, or was I not, sick 
on the 24th, 25th and 26th of September, and 
confined to my bed during any, and what 
part, of the time ? 

Answer. — You had been ill for a consider- 
able time before Arnold's desertion, and I 
had frequently told you that you were injur- 
ing your health by too close an application 
to business. You kept on the bed two or 
three days before the 25th. In the evening 
before, your fever had increased, and I gave 
you an emetic to take the next morning. You 
took it, and but for the confusion of the house, 
I believe you would have been on the bed the 
greater part of the day. 

Question. — 11. What hour of the day on 
141 



the 25th September last did Major Franks 
and I communicate to you our suspicions of 
Arnold's having joined the enemy or de- 
stroyed himself? How long after he had left 
the house, and whether before or after his 
Excellency General Washington returned 
from West Point, and after what injunctions 
on you ? 

Answer. — I know not the hour, but soon 
after his Excellency returned from West 
Point, I came out of Mrs. Arnold's chamber 
with you and Major Franks. I asked you 
where General Arnold was gone, and begged 
you, for God's sake, to send for him, or the 
woman would die. You took me into my 
chamber and both Major Franks and your- 
self (after enjoining on me the most sacred 
secrecy) informed me of your suspicions that 
Arnold had gone to the enemy. On my ask- 
ing if you had told it to General Washington, 
I think you told me it was a bare suspicion 
and that you were afraid to lisp it to any 
creature living, lest, proving untrue, it should 
ruin your reputations forever. You after- 
wards informed me that your suspicions 
were confirmed by Mrs. Arnold's saying in 

142 



her delirium that he (meaning her husband) 
was gone forever. 




I iiii n i ii m iM III " iwwn^-|i 




Ambld's escape to the 'Vulture 




Question. — 12. Had you ever, from your 
frequent conversations with me or your ob- 
servations on every part of my conduct from 
the day of my joining Arnold till I suggested 
to you my suspicions of his having destroyed 
himself or gone off to the enemy, or since 
that time till now, the most distant cause to 
suspect my having any agency in or being 
privy to his nefarious designs against his 
country ; or had you, from any circumstance 
whatever, any suspicion of my being in- 
formed of his desertion to the enemy until 

143 



on that day and hour when, in the presence 
of Major Franks, I mentioned to you in con- 
fidence our anxious suspicions on this head? 

Answer. — I am very free and very happy 
in declaring that, from my intimate acquaint- 
ance with you and my general knowledge 
of your conduct since your joining Arnold's 
family, I am not only convinced of your in- 
nocence and ignorance of his horrid designs 
against his country, and of his intention to 
join the enemy, but I really believe that you 
had not the most distant suspicion of either 
until his long and unaccountable absence 
(when he knew General Washington was 
momently expected) laid the first ground 
for it. 

Question. — 13. Have you, or have you 
not, at any time, and when, heard me ob- 
serve to Major Franks that I would have 
nothing to do with the family arrangements 
of General Arnold, or with his stores ? 

Answer. — I have heard you tell Major 
Franks that you would have no concern in 
the policy and arrangement of the family. 

Question. — 14. Were you not informed, 
and by whom, on the 28th September or 

144 



since, that I had retained for my own use any, 
and what, public stores, which were drawn 
by Arnold, until the Inquiry into my conduct 
should be ended ? Were you also informed 
by whose advice it was done, and that I 
retained them subject to account with the 
commissary for such part as I should use ? 
And have they, or have they not, been used 
profusely, and what became of the remain- 
der? 

Answer. — You informed me that you had 
reserved of the family stores a sufficiency to 
sustain Major Franks and yourself till the 
Court of Inquiry was ended. I think it was 
advised by one of General Washington's 
aides, and I do not believe thev have been used 
profusely. The remainder was delivered to 
the quartermasters and commissaries. 

Question. — 15. When did Major Franks 
go to Philadelphia with Mrs. Arnold, and 
return ? 

Answer. — He went to Philadelphia two 
days after Arnold's flight, and returned on 
Monday the i6th of October last. 

I certify upon honor that I have given the 
foregoing answers to Colonel Varick's fif- 

145 



teen questions, according to my best know- 
ledge and belief. 

William Eustis, Hospital Physician, 
at Robinson's House, 4th November, 1 780. 



146 



XXVIII 

TESTIMONY OF COLONEL JOHN LAMB 

Colonel John Lamb appearing before the 
Court as a witness, was interrogated by Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Varick, and answered as fol- 
lows : — 

Question. — i. Was you at Robinson's 
House on the day when I joined the late 
General Arnold's military family? When 
was it ? In what capacity was I employed, 
and how did I discharge my duty under him, 
until his flight, to the best of your knowledge 
and information ? 

Answer. — I was at Robinson's House the 
day you joined Arnold's family, but I do not 
remember the time precisely ; it was some 
time in the beginning of August. You acted 
in the capacity of Arnold's secretary; you 
were engaged in writing when I was at the 
house, and I have reason to believe that you 
ever discharged your duty with diligence and 
fidelity to the public. 

147 



Question. — 2. Did I ever, and when, in- 
form you of my views in joining Arnold's 
family, and what were they ? 

Answer. — You informed me that your 
views in joining Arnold's family were to 
comply with a recommendation of General 
Schuyler for that purpose, and to avoid being 
frequently called out in the militia. 

Question. — 3. Did I ever, before and dur- 
ing my service with Arnold, or since his de- 
sertion to this day, make known my political 
sentiments to you, and what were they ? 

Answer. — I have often conversed with 
you on politics, both before and after your 
joining Arnold's family, and never had the 
least shadow of reason to doubt your strict 
and steady attachment to the cause of Amer- 
ica. 

Question. — 4. Did I, or did I not, often and 
soon after my joining Arnold, on all occa- 
sions, fully speak to you my opinion of Smith's 
moral as well as political character, and what 
were my avowed and open sentiments of him ? 
And did I ever testify to you my hearty aver- 
sion to Smith's coming to Arnold's quarters 
and the liberties he assumed, — my great con- 

148 



tempt of him, and my suspicions of his base 
intentions to procure intelligence for the 
enemy? 

Answer. — You often told me that you be- 
lieved Joshua Smith to be a damned Tory 
and snake in the grass ; that you disliked his 
coming to the house and that you had cau- 
tioned Arnold against him as a spy for the 
enemy, and was determined to affront him 
on all occasions. 

Question. — 5. Did I ever to your know- 
ledge offer insults and affronts to Smith at 
Arnold's quarters, and what was my language 
and conduct to and concerning him, as well 
before as particularly on Saturday the 23rd 
September, both before and at dinner ? 

Answer. — I remember to have heard you 
several times give Smith very broad hints, 
which I thought sufficient to have affronted 
any man of feeling. But he affected not to 
understand you. One time particularly you 
retired from the room where you always 
transacted the public business, to the dining- 
room, apparently with design to avoid him, 
and on his coming into the dining-room, in 
terms expressive of your disgust you declared 

149 



in an angry tone of voice that there was no 
such thing as doing business without being 
constantly interrupted by one puppy or other. 
He appeared to me to understand at whom 
the expression was leveled, but seemed de- 
termined not to fall out with any of the family, 
for reasons which are now very obvious. 
When we were at dinner on Saturday the 
23rd September, there happened to be a scar- 
city of butter at the table. On Mrs. Arnold's 
calling for more butter she was informed by 
the servant that there was no more. Arnold 
immediately said : " Bless me, I had forgot 
the oil I bought in Philadelphia. It will do 
very well with salt fish," which was one of 
the dishes. The oil was produced, and, on 
Arnold's saying it cost eighty dollars, Smith 
replied, "Eighty pence; " that a dollar was 
really no more than a penny, upon which you 
said with some warmth, either " You are mis- 
taken," or " That is not true, Mr. Smith." I 
do not particularly recollect which. This 
you said in such a tone of voice as convinced 
me you was determined to affront him. A 
great deal was said on the subject between 
you and Smith, and at length (from some 

150 



expression which Smith dropped) Major 
Franks became a party in the dispute, which 
was growing very warm, when Mrs. Arnold 
(who had observed that Arnold was getting 
very angry) interposed and begged that the 
dispute might be dropped, as it gave her 
great pain. After dinner you told me you 
was determined to affront Smith as often as 
he came to the house, and drive him from it 
if possible. 

Question. — 6. At what hours of the day 
of the 25th September did I communicate to 
you my fears that Arnold had joined the 
enemy? And what did I assign to you as 
the causes of my suspicions, and subject to 
any and what injunctions? 

A nswer. — I was walking before the door of 
Robinson's House with Major Villetfranche 
(on the day that Arnold deserted to the en- 
emy) about 4 o'clock P. M., when we were 
desired to walk in to dinner. As I entered 
the house I met you near the door of the 
dining-room ; you took me aside and told me 
you began to suspect that Arnold was gone 
to the enemy. I asked you what grounds 
you had for your suspicions. You said the 

151 



manner in which he went off, and that you 
believed that a certain John Anderson, with 
whom he corresponded, under the feigned 
name of Gustavus, was taken as a spy ; that 
it might be possible your suspicions were 
groundless, and therefore enjoined me to 
say nothing on the subject to anybody, lest 
you might be mistaken in your conjectures. 

Question. — 7. Had you ever, from your 
acquaintance and conversation with me, or 
from your observations on any and every part 
of my conduct from the day of my joining 
Arnold to the day of his desertion, and since 
that date to this day, the most distant cause 
to suspect my having any agency in his in- 
fernal designs against his country, or had you 
from any circumstances whatever, either be- 
fore or since his desertion, any suspicions of 
my being informed thereof, till the moment 
I communicated to you my fears on that 
score ? 

Answer. — This question is fully answered 
in my answer to the third. 

Question. — 8. What was my conduct with 
respect to the public stores which had been 
drawn by Arnold, and which remained at 

152 



Robinson's House, on the 28th September? 
Were not some, and what, stores left for my 
use subject to account to the commissary 
for such part as I should use, and by whose 
advice was the measure adopted ? 

Answer. — There were some stores left at 
Robinson's House after Arnold had gone off, 
particularly flour and a small parcel of dried 
cod-fish, which you mentioned to me (as com- 
mandant of the garrison), and said that al- 
though some of General Washington's family 
had advised you to keep such as you had an 
immediate occasion for, you would deliver 
them to the commissary; upon which I told 
you that you might keep such of them as you 
and the gentlemen of the hospital wanted, 
receipting to the commissary for them, as it 
would save the trouble of sending your ser- 
vants backward and forward to draw those 
articles. 

Question. — 9. Did you ever mention to 
me, and when, the practice of officers at 
West Point drawing salt and salt provi- 
sions, and exchanging them for poultry, but- 
ter and other country produce, to the preju- 
dice of officers of inferior rank who could 

153 



not, on that account, procure anything for 
money? And did I not engage to use my 
influence with Arnold to prevent it in future, 
and what were the effects of my promise 
and influence with him, to your knowledge 
or belief? 

Answer. — I did mention more than once 
to you the pernicious practice that had ob- 
tained in the garrison, among the general 
officers, of drawing rum and salt from the 
commissary, and having those articles ex- 
changed for veal, butter, poultry, etc., at an 
exorbitant rate. By which means the cur- 
rency was depreciated and the field and 
other officers deprived of the chance of pur- 
chasing those articles for money ; the inhab- 
itants refusing to part with them in any other 
manner than that of barter. You told me 
you would use your influence with Arnold 
to discourage so pernicious and injurious 
a practice. And some time after, Arnold 
informed me he had ordered commissary 
Monell (who, I understood, had been em- 
ployed in bartering rum and salt) to return a 
quantity of salt which he had received for 
that purpose. 

154 



Question. — lo. Was, or was not, Joshua 
Smith the chief agent for Arnold in his cor- 
respondence with the enemy? 

Answer. — I am informed he was. 



JOSHUA HETT SMITH'S HOUSE 
The view is from the slope in front of the house. It 
stands upon the slope of "Treason Hill," a few rods 
west of w|^ road leading frorn Stony Point to Haver- 
straw. T&e house is famous as the place where 
Arnold Shtf; Andre arranged the terms upon which West 
Point was to be surrendered to the British. It ^was in 
a room on the second floor that the conspirators were 

closeted together,. 

^. 

Deposition of Mr. henry Dorne Tripp, Com- 
missary TO THE Flying hospital 

West Point, ss. — Henry D. Tripp, Com- 
missary to the Flying Hospital at Robinson's 
House, being sworn, deposeth and saith, that 
about the beginning of September the late 
Major-General Arnold desired the deponent 
to take in his boat to New Windsor three 
barrels of pork for Mr. Bard, to be left at Mr. 
William Ellison's at that place; that the 

155 



pork was accordingly taken out of the cellar 
at Robinson's House, and sent down to the 
landing by Arnold's orders, and put in the 
boat of the deponent, and left by him at Elli- 
son's; and that Lieutenant-Colonel Varick 
had not any information thereof to this de- 
ponent's knowledge or belief, as the charge 
given by Arnold to him respecting the pork 
was in so singularly low a tone of voice as 
not to be audible where Colonel Varick sat 
writing in the same room, and the more 
especially as every order respecting it was 

given by Arnold in person. 

H. D. Tripp 

Sworn before me at West Point this 5th 
November, 1780. 

[Name of officer administering oath not given.'] 



XXIX 

A PRIVATE MEMORANDUM-BOOK IN THE HAND- 
WRITING OF THE LATE GENERAL ARNOLD, 
CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF SALES OF PUB- 
LIC SALT, Wine and Pork 

[This book does not appear among the papers in 
this case, but it is unimportant.^ 

156 



XXX 

Deposition of Mrs. Catherine Martin 

state of New Jersey, i 
Bergen County, j ®^' 

Mrs. Catherine Martin, wife of Martin, 

Sergeant-Major to the 3rd Pennsylvania 
regiment, being duly sworn, deposeth and 
saith, that on about the fourth or fifth of 
August last, she entered into the family of 
the late Major-General Arnold as his house- 
keeper at Robinson's House ; that some time 
thereafter Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Var- 
ick joined General Arnold and acted as sec- 
retary to him. 

That during the time of his continuance 
with General Arnold, he did not interfere 
with or concern himself about the private 
arrangements in his family, except in the 
absence of the General, on which occasions, 
on the deponent's complaints to him, he was 
under the necessity of giving orders on the 
commissary for bread or flour or beef, to 
supply the absolute wants of the servants 
and attendants of the family. 

157 



And the deponent further saith that she 
heard Lieutenant-Colonel Varick frequently 
declare that he would have nothing to do 
with the private affairs of General Arnold ; 
that he had not come into his family for the 
purpose of being his purveyor or steward, 
and that he would act in his proper line of 
office only. 

That General Arnold, for a longtime, kept 
his stores in his own private room, and after- 
wards in a room appointed for the purpose, to 
which no person had access except himself, 
the deponent and his own servant; that she 
verily believes Lieutenant -Colonel Varick 
never knew, unless by information from him, 
what stores General Arnold had for his own 
use, as he did not, to her knowledge or belief, 
ever go into his store-room, or ever inquire 
from her what stores Arnold had. That 
Lieutenant -Colonel Varick never, to her 
knowledge, entered into the kitchen, except 
to call a servant, until after he was taken ill, 
when he was under the necessity of going 
into it for his own convenience ; and that he 
never gave any orders with respect to the 
family affairs, except when General Arnold 

158 



was absent to King's Ferry to meet Mrs. 
Arnold at two or three different times, or 
elsewhere. 

That she has the fullest reason to believe 
that Lieutenant-Colonel Varick never was in 
the cellar of Robinson's House, where some 
stores of General Arnold's were lodged, until 
two days after he had deserted to the enemy, 
when, upon her representation that the locks 
were taken away and the stores exposed to 
theft, he went down to inquire into their 
situation. 

And further the deponent saith not. 

Catherine Martin 

Sworn this 17th day of October, 1780, be- 
fore me, 

A. St. Clair, Major-General. 



XXXI 

Copy of a Certificate of Mr. Samuel b. mar- 
shall, Assistant Commissary of issues 

This certifies that there was drawn by sun- 
dry orders, signed by Lieutenant -Colonel 
Varick (secretary to the late General Arnold) 

159 



from the issuing store, in the months of Au- 
gust and September, 1780, two hundred and 
twenty-five pounds of beef, five tongues and 
two barrels damaged India meal, which is 
the whole of the stores that the said Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Varick gave orders for, and 
which orders specified that the provisions 
were for said General Arnold's family. 

Samuel B. Marshall, 
Assistant Commissary of Issues. 

West Point, October 22, 1780. 

I now beg leave to offer in evidence a few 
papers evincive of the line of my conduct 
with respect to the stores and provisions left 
in my charge on the 28th September last : — 
I. — A receipt from Mr. Marshall for spirits, 
flour and fish delivered him by Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Varick, September 28, 1780. 
2. — Sundry receipts from the quarter-mas- 
ters, for a marker, horseman's tents, and 
common tents, horses, waggons, writing 
paper, etc., etc., in the quartermaster de- 
partment, returned by Lieutenant-Colo- 
nel Varick at different times. 
3. — A return of provisions left in the hands 
160 



of Lieutenant-Colonel Varick, September 
28, 1780. Also a return of his and Major 
Franks's expenditures of provisions. 
4. — Copy of a Certificate of Samuel B. Mar- 
shall, Assistant Commissary of Issues. 
I do hereby certify that there is due to 
Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Varick from the 
28th September to the 31st inst., and to Major 
David S. Franks from the ist to the 31st inst., 
included in the whole, one hundred and 
sixty-six pounds and three quarters of flour, 
in part of their rations for themselves and 
servants, and that no flour has been drawn 
from my store by either of them, since the 
late Major-General Arnold deserted to the 
enemy. 

For Samuel B. Marshall, Assistant Com- 
missary of Issues, 

John K. Stafford 

West Point, October 28, 1780. 



161 



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MOORE'S HOUSE » 

. . was made famous by bdngthe place 
This house was maoe ^^^^^ ^^^ 



,*F^ 




Colonel Varick's Address to the Court: 

I have now gone thro' the evidence on the 
important and pointed subjects of the In- 
quiry. It was impossible, from the nature of 
the case, that I should prove to you, by pos- 
itive evidence, that I was neither party nor 
privy to Arnold's wicked and cruel designs 
against his country and to his mean and dirty 
peculation and embezzlement of public pro- 
perty. But your report on the subject, whe- 
ther honorable or dishonorable to me, must 
depend on circumstances which I have proved 
to you, as inconsistent with the supposition 

162 



of my guilt. I trust I have proved to you 
fully such circumstances as, when combined 
and taken at one general view and weighed 
with precision and candor, will convince 
your judgments that I was not only incapable 
of being an agent in Arnold's nefarious and 
mean practices, but that during my service 
under him and prior to the date of my joining 
his family, I had some merit. 

I hope the testimony I have offered has in 
no instance fallen short of the allegations I 
made to the Court at my opening the busi- 
ness of the Inquiry. I shall not insult your 
judgments by attempting any explanatory 
observations or comments on any part of 
the evidence offered, but readily submit the 
simple facts as proved for your candid deci- 
sion. 

I cannot, however, dismiss the subject 
without acknowledging — that most pleasing 
of all human duties — my gratitude and obli- 
gations to his Excellency, our Commander- 
in-Chief, as well for his delicacy, tenderness 
and civility towards me, on the discovery of 
Arnold's perfidy, and in the moments of my 
severe indisposition, combined with the most 

163 



affecting and pungent anxiety and distress, 
as for this singular indulgence in offering to me 
an opportunity of redeeming that invaluable 
jewel — a fair reputation — from reproach; 
of establishing my character in the opinion 
of all candid and good men ; of erasing from 
the minds of my honest and misinformed 
fellow-countrymen any unfavorable impres- 
sions which my connection with the guilty 
Arnold has made to my prejudice ; of putting 
calumny, envy and unprovoked malevolence 
to perpetual silence, shame and confusion ; 
of defeating the unmanly intentions of the 
disingenuous and designing, and finally, of 
convincing my fellow-citizens and fellow- 
countrymen that, altho' I have been unfor- 
tunate, I am still worthy of their full 
confidence. 

Thus I cheerfully quit the painful subject, 
in full expectation that your honorary report 
will compensate for all the anxiety, distress 
and pain into which the guilt of a traitor has 
involved me. 

Richard Varick 

West Point, November 5, 1780. 



164 



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Headqaarters, Camp Totawa, 
Thursday, November i6, 1780. 

The Commander-in-Chief is pleased to ac- 
cept and approve the following report of a 
Court of Inquiry held at West Point the and 
instant, to examine into the conduct of Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Varick in his connection with 
the late Major -General Arnold during the 
command at West Point, and relative to his 
desertion to the enemy. 

Colonel Van Schaick, President ; Lieuten- 
ant-Colonels Cobb and Dearborn, Major 
Reid and Captain Cox, members. 

The Court unanimously report their opin- 
ion that Lieutenant - Colonel Varick's con- 
duct with respect to the base peculations and 
treasonable practices of the late General 
Arnold is not only unimpeachable, but think 
him entitled (thro' every part of his conduct) 
to a degree of merit which does him great 
honor as an officer, and particularly distin- 
guishes him as a sincere friend to his country. 

Extract from General Orders. 

Alexander Scammell, 

Adjutant-General. 
165 




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Verplank's point, where Arnold passed in his flighi 
to the Valtare. 




Copy of interrogatories by major Franks 
TO Lieutenant-Colonel Richard varick, 

AND answers thereto 

West Point, November 19, 1780. 

Question. — i. How long have you known 
me ; and how long have you been particu- 
larly acquainted with me ? In what office did 
I act when you first knew me and afterwards 
became particularly acquainted with me? 
And, from your knowledge of me, had you 
ever any reason to suppose I was wanting in 
attachment or zeal to support the rights of 
America against British oppression ? 

Answer. — I first became slightly ac- 
167 



quainted with you in the year 1776, when I 
was one of General Schuyler's family and 
you came from Canada, where, as I was then 
informed, you had held an office in the ser- 
vice of America, called the Clerk of the Cheque. 
I afterwards became particularly acquainted 
with youintheyear 1777, when youjoined the 
late General Arnold's family, as his aid, and 
we served together for the campaign in the 
Northern Army, and afterwards resided in 
the city of Albany, during the winter 1777-8, 
while Arnold lay there wounded. From my 
intimate acquaintance with you I was so far 
from supposing you wanted zeal and attach- 
ment to support our cause that I had, from 
your whole language and conduct, every 
reason to believe the contrary. 

Question. — 2. When did you join the late 
General Arnold's family ? When did I leave 
you and go to Philadelphia for Mrs. Arnold ? 
What day did I return to Robinson's House ; 
and how soon after did Arnold desert to the 
enemy ? 

Answer. — I joined Arnold's family at Rob- 
inson's House on Sunday, 13th August. You 
left us on the 23rd for Philadelphia and re- 

168 



joined us on the 15th September. Arnold 
deserted on the 25th. 

Question. — 3. Did I ever, and when first, 
intimate to you that I wished to leave Arnold's 
family, and my reasons therefor ? And did I 
at any time afterwards make known to you 
my intentions in that respect? 

Answer. — You did inform me, I think, on 
the day, or two days after my joining Arnold, 
that you was resolved to quit his family and 
go to Spain this fall, and you then showed 
me a letter of yours to Colonel Henry B. 
Livingston, Mr. Jay's private secretary, on 
that subject, stating the reasons, therein in- 
forming him that the money you had brought 
with you from Canada had sunk in your hands 
by the depreciation; that for gold lent the 
public in Canada, you had received paper 
money from Congress, which was now spent; 
that your pay in the army would by no means 
support you; that, by joining our army, you 
had incurred your father's displeasure and 
forfeited every prospect of support from him ; 
that it was therefore unavoidably necessary 
that you should enter into some business for 
a present subsistence and future support of 

i6q 



yourself and a sister you had brought with 
you from Canada. Afterwards Arnold's cava- 
lier and ungenteel treatment, to part of which 
I was witness, gave you frequent occasions, 
and you did declare to me your absolute de- 
termination to leave him this fall. 

You accompanied Arnold to Peekskill to 
meet his Excellency General Washington, 
then on his way to Hartford, with a declared 
intention to request Colonel Hamilton to in- 
terest himself with the Count de Rocham- 
beau or some general officer in the French 
army, at Rhode Island, to take you into his 
family, which you seemed to prefer to quit- 
ting America. 

On your return from Peekskill on the loth 
September, you declared to Dr. Eustis and 
myself that from the repeated insults and ill 
treatment offered to you by Arnold, you had 
resolved not to remain with him on any 
terms whatever and that you would leave 
him very shortly. 

Question. — 4. When did Arnold's corre- 
spondence with a Mr. John Anderson com- 
mence, to your knowledge ? Was I with him 
then, or was I privy to any part of it? Did you 

170 



not inform me of it, and when ; and what con- 
versation passed between us on the subject? 
Answer. — It appears by a private memo- 
randum book of Arnold's, left in my hands 
by Colonel Meade, and which I lately discov- 
ered, that Arnold had written to Anderson, 
on the 7th June; on the 13th and 15th July; 
in August without date, and on the 3rd Sep- 
tember ; another letter of the 30th August 
signed " Gustavus," intercepted by General 
Parsons, during my service with Arnold. I 
never knew of his writing any but that of the 
3rd September, which he informed me he had 
written to a friend of his in New York, under 
fictitious characters, and sent it by a Mrs. 
Mary McCarthy, of Quebec, who had Gov- 
ernor Clinton's pass and a flag from Arnold 
to go down the river to New York. I never 
saw that letter, nor did I know the fictitious 
characters, until Arnold received Anderson's 
letter of the 7th September to Colonel Shel- 
don, in consequence of Arnold's of the 3rd 
September. You was absent at the time, and 
knew nothing of it till the morning after you 
returned from Philadelphia, when I com- 
municated the correspondence to you. You 

171 



thereupon told me you thought you remem- 
bered his corresponding with and receiving 
intelligence from a person of that name. I 
then thought the correspondence was proper, 
in discharge of his duty, and commenda- 
ble if he could procure intelligence in that 
way. I never was solicitous to know the real 
characters or names of his emissaries, fur- 
ther than he chose to communicate them to 
me, as I thought it none of my business and 
improper to be known by any person. I do 
not recollect your seeing the letters on the 
subject of that correspondence which passed 
between Arnold and Colonel Sheldon and 
Major Tallmadge, but all the public papers 
were open to your perusal, except one of the 
6th September, sent to Arnold by his Excel- 
lency, which, as it was delivered to me con- 
fidentially, I did not think myself at liberty 
to show you. 

Question. — 5. What was my opinion of 
Mr. Joshua H. Smith's character and con- 
duct, and of his visits at Arnold's quarters ? 
And did any, and what, quarrel take place 
between you, me, and Arnold and Smith; 
pray inform the Court of the whole. 

172 



Answer. — V/hen I first joined Arnold's 
family, he received a letter of the 13th Au- 
gust from Smith, which gave occasion to my 
speaking freely and unfavorably of Smith's 
moral and political character. Arnold and 
yourself thought well of him as a man, but I 
soon prevailed on you to think him a liar 
and a rascal and you ever after spoke of him 
and treated him in a manner his real char- 
acter merited ; and was always disgusted at 
his visits, the first of which took place, I 
think, on the i6th September, the day after 
Mrs. Arnold's arrival. 

On the 23rd September, he came to Ar- 
nold's quarters and dined with us ; my un- 
favorable opinion of his moral and political 
character and his usual and unparalleled 
impertinence and forwardness, and General 
Arnold's countenancing him (notwithstand- 
ing my advice and frequent solicitations to 
the contrary) fixed a resolution in me to af- 
front him before Arnold, the first opportunity. 
A trifling one offered at table ; I embraced 
it with warmth. A very high dispute took 
place, in which you became a volunteer 
with me. Arnold opposed you and often ad- 

173 



dressed to you, with warmth, answers to my 
observations, and I replied to his answers, 
addressing myself to Smith. You, as well as 
myself, were cavalier with Smith, till Mrs. 



Kobin^on House. The ceiling 



IS 



The Dining roj 
low; the heavy|_^ 

rounded by neat panel-work, without a mantel -----^ 
The door on the right opens into a small room which 
Arnold used as an office. 



Arnold (who also thought ill of Smith) ob- 
serving her husband in a passion, begged us 
to drop the matter. I soon quitted the table 
and went into my room, which was then the 
office. 

After dinner, Smith went off and Arnold 
came into the office and took you to task in 
very illiberal language for affronting Smith ; 
he lashed me over your back, without ad- 
dressing himself to me ; he declared that if 

174 



he asked the Devil to dine with him, the gen- 
tlemen of his family should be civil to him. 
You told him if Smith had not been at his 
table, you would have sent the bottle at his 
head and would thereafter treat him as a 
rascal. I then found it necessary to do you, 
as well as myself, justice by taking on my- 
self the blame of affronting Smith. You 
thereupon declared to Arnold that you had 
of late observed that he viewed every part 
of your conduct with an eye of prejudice, and 
begged him to discharge you from his fam- 
ily. You went out of the room in a passion 
and to Newburgh on business, from which 
you did not return till the 24th. The dispute 
between me and Arnold continued very high. 
I cursed Smith as a damned rascal, a scoun- 
drel and a spy, and said that my reason for 
affronting him was that I thought him so. I 
also told Arnold that my advice to him had 
proceeded from a regard to his reputation, 
which he repeatedly and confidentially told 
me he wished should stand well in this 
State, and which I had very often told him 
would suffer by an improper intimacy with 
Smith. 

175 



I further told him that Smith's insolence 
to you and his ungentlemanlike conduct to 
Mrs. Arnold, in speaking impertinently to 
you before her in a language she did not un- 
derstand, justified your treating Smith in the 
manner you did, and worse, and also merited 
his resentment instead of countenance. Ar- 
nold then told me that he was always will- 
ing to be advised by the gentlemen of his 
family, but, by God, would not be dictated to 
by them ; that he thought he possessed as 
much prudence as the gentlemen of his fam- 
ily. Some other words ensued, till I had oc- 
casion to leave him to despatch an express, 
and when I returned he had left the office. 

In the evening I received a letter of the 
igth from Lieutenant - Colonel Benson, of 
Governor Clinton's family, in answer to one 
of mine of the 24th August inquiring of 
Smith's real political character and the truth 
of some information he had given Arnold 
and which I thought false. The answer con- 
tained an opinion of Smith's character by no 
means favorable to him. I showed it to Ar- 
nold and then told him that I considered his 
past conduct and language to me unwarrant- 

176 



able, and that I thought he did not place 
that confidence in my repeated friendly as- 
surances and advice which I had a right to 
expect and which was necessary to put in 
a person acting in my capacity, and that I 
could not act longer with propriety. He gave 
me assurances of his full confidence in me, 
of a conviction of the rectitude of my con- 
duct, of Smith's being a rascal, and of his 
error in treating me with such cavalier lan- 
guage, and that he would never go to Smith's 
house again or be seen with him but in com- 
pany. All of which I related to you the 24th 
on your return from Newburgh. 

Question. — 6. How often did Arnold go 
down the river in his barge whilst I was at 
Robinson's House? Did I ever attend him, 
and what were our opinions and conduct on 
his going down and remaining absent the 
night of the 21st September ? 

Answer. — He went down once on the 14th 
to meet you and Mrs. Arnold and returned 
on the 15th. After that he went down but 
once, declaredly to consult with Major Leav- 
enworth about the disposition of Colonel 
Meigs's regiment, which had been ordered up 

177 



by General Greene, and about the disposi- 
tion of which Arnold told me he had received 
no advice from his Excellency or General 
Greene. You did not accompany him any- 
where to my knowledge, except on the 17th 
to Peekskill to meet his Excellency. I had 
said so much against Smith that I did not 
expect he would ever go to lodge at his house 
again ; but when I was informed by you or 
Mrs. Arnold on the day of the 21st that he 
was not to return that evening, I suggested 
to you that I supposed he was gone to 
Smith's, and that I considered Arnold's treat- 
ment of me, in keeping up his connection 
with Smith in opposition to the warning I 
had given him, as very ungenteel, and that 
I was resolved to quit his family. We did 
thereupon concert the plan of preventing 
their further intimacy by alarming Mrs. Ar- 
nold's fears and asking her influence against 
it, as she entertained, and had declared to 
him before me, an unfavorable opinion of 
Smith, both as a gentleman and as a man of 
sincerity, which we did, and she informed 
me afterwards that Arnold had made her fair 
promises not to countenance Smith at all. 

178 



You did at the same time inform me that 
you could not account for his connection 
with Smith; that you knew him to be an 
avaricious man and suspected he meant to 
open trade with some person in New York 
under sanction of his command by means of 
flags and the unprincipled rascal Smith; that 
you were induced to suspect it from the let- 
ter he wrote to Anderson in a commercial 
style, as related to you by me. We thereupon 
pledged to each other our word of honor that 
if your suspicions should prove to be founded 
on fact we would instantly quit him. 

Question. — 7. What was Arnold's as well 
as my conduct and deportment on the day 
of his desertion, and had you the slightest 
reason to think that I had been, or was party 
or privy to any of his villanous practices and 
correspondences with the enemy, or to his 
flight ? Pray relate the whole of our conduct 
on that day, to your knowledge. 

Answer. — I was sick, and a great part of 
the time in my bed, on the morning of his 
flight. Before breakfast he came into my 
room, soon after I entered it, and asked me 
whether I had answered some letters re- 

179 



ceived from Lieutenant-Colonel Jameson and 
Major Tallmadge, and whether I had writ- 
ten to Governor Clinton inclosing copies of 
the letters that had passed between him and 
Colonel Beverly Robinson. I replied, "No, 
sir, nor am I able to do it." He took Tall- 
madge's letter out of the office, and said he 
would write to Tallmadge himself; and I 
never saw him after it, but betook myself 
to my bed. 

I think it was not an hour thereafter when 
you came to me and told me Arnold was 
gone to West Point. General Washington 
soon arrived and went to West Point also; 
a considerable time thereafter you came to 
the window of my room near my bed, and 
shoving it up hastily, told me with a degree 
of apparent surprise that you believed Ar- 
nold was a villain or rascal, and added that 
you heard a report that one Anderson was 
taken as a spy on the lines, and that a militia 
officer had brought letters to Arnold and that 
he was enjoined secrecy by Arnold. I made 
some warm reply, but instantly reflecting 
that I was injuring a gentleman and a friend 
of high reputation in a tender point, I told 

i8o 



you it was uncharitable and unwarranted 
even to suppose it. You coincided in opin- 
ion with me, and I lay down secure in the 
high idea I entertained of Arnold's integrity 
and patriotism. 

Some time in the course of that day, I do 
not recollect when, but think it was pretty 
soon after his Excellency arrived. Captain 
D. Hubbells came into my room, and in 
conversation told me he saw Arnold's barge 
going down the river; but that circumstance 
made no impression on me. 

Not long after you mentioned your suspi- 
cions to me, Mrs. Arnold called for me and 
when I waited on her I found from her lan- 
guage and conduct that she was in great 
pain and had lost her reason, but could not 
divine the cause. Some time before dinner 
(the hour I do not know, but I think just 
before his Excellency General Washington 
returned from West Point), Mrs. Arnold, re- 
covering her reason in some measure, com- 
plained to me that she was left without a 
friend. I attempted to soothe her by saying 
she had many friends, enumerating you and 
myself, and that General Arnold would be 

i8i 



there soon. On my mentioning his name, 
she replied in great agony : " Oh, no, no ! 
he is gone, gone, forever ! " I soon left the 
room, found his Excellency had returned, 
and that Arnold had not been at West Point ; 
and then, recollecting your declaration while 
I lay in bed, and his unaccountable and long 
absence, and Captain Hoagland's having 
come with despatches to his Excellency, and 
evading answers to my inquiries with respect 
to Anderson's being taken, I mentioned to 
you that I was very apprehensive of his 
having destroyed himself or gone off, and in 
very few minutes after, we mentioned our 
fears to Dr. Eustis in confidence, lest we 
might be deceived and our reputations ruined 
forever. 

We were anxious to advise the General 
of our suspicions, but fearful of doing it in a 
direct manner, when Mrs. Arnold's request 
to see him, to ask for relief, soon furnished 
us with the opportunity and I waited on his 
Excellency into her room accordingly. 

Soon after and just before dinner, I com- 
municated my suspicions to Colonel Lamb 
in confidence, and it was not till after dinner 

182 



that his Excellency communicated Arnold's 
perfidy and treachery to us. 

I never had any reason from any part of 
your language and conduct before, on that 
day or since, to suppose you were party or 
privy to any part of his villany or to his 
flight; but your language and conduct on all 
occasions betrayed a very strong attach- 
ment to the rights of our country. 

Question. — 8. Did I ever, to your know- 
ledge, draw any, or what, stores for Arnold, 
and what were my declarations on the oc- 
casions of his drawing stores? And did I 
ever draw any orders for the most trifling 
articles, to your knowledge, without his par- 
ticular directions ? 

Answer. — I do not of my own knowledge 
know what stores you ever drew for Arnold ; 
it appears from the commissary's return 
that you drew some beef, pork, and rum for 
him in August, and not since. 

Two or three days after my joining Ar- 
nold, I remember hearing you express your 
disapprobation of Arnold's bringing so many 
stores to Robinson's House, saying that in 
case the enemy should come up expeditiously, 

183 



either our baggage or the stores must be lost. 
I replied that the stores should go to the 
devil, before I should lose my baggage, and 
that with Arnold's conduct in that respect 
I had no concern. I do not know that you 
gave any orders for anything without his 
leave or direction; his conduct had been cap- 
tious towards you, which induced you to act 
squarely in that particular. 

Question. — 9. Was any rum and pork or 
other stores offered for sale or sold by Ar- 
nold, and was I privy thereto ? 

Answer. — Arnold requested a Captain 
Robinson, a river skipper, to sell rum for 
him, and I prevented any intercourse be- 
tween them. He also offered for sale to Cap- 
tain Bard some barrels of pork. I interposed 
after Bard left him, and induced him to lay 
aside his intentions ; but it appears, from a 
private memorandum book of his, that he 
has sold and delivered not only the pork, but 
some wine and salt, all of which I was unin- 
formed of; but appears from the memoran- 
dum book to have taken place while you 
were at Philadelphia ; except two casks of 
wine, which appear to have been sold the 

184 



day before you went. I have every reason 
to suppose that you knew nothing about 
these matters (except what I knew of the 
offers of sales and which I mentioned to you 
on your return from Philadelphia) until since 
his desertion. 

It is also notorious that a very considera- 
ble quantity of salt has been bartered by Mr. 
Tripp, Commissary of the Flying Hospital, 
and a Mr. Monell, an assistant State agent 
for Ulster County, by Arnold's orders, for 
mutton, poultry, butter, eggs, etc., for the 
Flying Hospital and himself; whether to 
your knowledge or not, I can't say; but as 
soon as I was fully apprised of this matter 
by Colonel Lamb, after you Vt^ent to Phila- 
delphia in August, I did so pressingly im- 
portune Arnold on the impropriety of the 
measure as to prevail upon him to order Mr. 
Monell on the 29th August to return the salt 
he had on hand for those purposes. This 
salt was not got at West Point, but from 
some commissary in the country on Arnold's 
own orders, as I am informed by Lieuten- 
ant Tripp. 

Question. — 10. What line of conduct did 
185 



Arnold observe with respect to the stores he 
had for his own use and in his family mat- 
ters, and how far did I give orders with re- 
spect to either? 

Answer. — When I first joined Arnold, and 
for some time after you went to Philadelphia, 
he kept at least his liquor and small stores 
in his own private room, and afterwards in 
a room appointed for that purpose. I never 
interfered with either, nor did I ever give di- 
rections with respect to either, when he was 
at home. I do not know how far you did, but 
I recollect that on my mentioning that I 
would have nothing to do with his private 
affairs you told me that you did not like to 
give any orders or to interfere in his family 
matters, for that he had made it a point to 
counteract your orders, and that he was 
very tenacious of ordering and attending to 
everything himself. With the stores left 
after Arnold's departure you never had any 
connection, as you went to Philadelphia the 
27th. 

Richard Varick 

West Point, November, 1 780. 



186 



SECOND PART 

LETTERS BEARING DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY 
UPON THE ARNOLD TREASON, BUT NOT IN- 
CLUDED IN THE "PROCEEDINGS" 



The large brass mortar takeijt i&im the English M^hen 
Wayne captured Stony P^int, with two small brass 
mortars taken frommftgtfyne a% Saratoga ; and a por- 
tion of.tbe famous chain which the Amencafls^tretched 
acro«6 the river at West Point t< - iinict the pass;.: - 
of the vessels of the enemy. \ .,c links are madie of 
iron bar^ 2 .1-2 inches square, and average in length a 
little more than two feet ; they^^eigh about 140 pounds 
each. 



L 



Robinson's House, Sunday Morning, 
Read this to yourself. October i, 1780. 

My dear Jane, — 

I now set myself down to my pen and paper to 
give you a small detail of the most painful scenery 
and the black secret transactions of my late bosom 
friend and social companion, but now the execrably 
perfidious and treacherous parricide, the late Major- 
General Benedict Arnold, of infamous memory, 
whose thirst after the accursed treasure (British 
gold) has at one stroke blotted out, and as with 
a sponge wiped away, the memory of illustrious 
actions and signal services rendered his country on 
divers occasions, and stamped his character with 
all that Infamy can call her own. 

You have no doubt heard the particulars ; they are 
i8g 



too tedious for my weak memory and trembling hand 
to recount ; when I see my friends I will satisfy 
them on this head. Let me only inform you that I 
lay sick in my bed on Monday morning, 25th Septem- 
ber about 10 o'clock ; Arnold received advice by two 
letters that Major Andre, Adjutant-General of the 
British Army, was taken with sundry papers in Ar- 
nold's handwriting, and without waiting to see Gen- 
eral Washington, who was within one mile of us, 
I am informed he called for a horse, bid the officer 
who brought the letters to be silent, went upstairs 
and took leave (I suppose) of his more than amiable 
wife, — left her in a swoon and rode of? to the lands, 
telling Major Franks to advise General Washington 
that he was gone on some business to West Point, 
and would return in an hour ; and rowed down the 
river with his barge crew and passed King's Ferry 
as a flagg and went on board the Vulture, a British 
man-of-war. This infamous business had been 
carried on by Joshua H. Smith, brother of Billy 
Smith, Esquire, now in New York, who with Andre, 
have, I hope, shared their proper fate. 

General Washington came here and was informed, 
as Arnold had told Franks, and he to me. I then 
rose from my bed, dressed, and paid my respects to 
the General, the Marquis, General Knox, &c., but my 
fever obliged me to retire again. When the General 
had breakfasted, he went to West Point in expecta- 
tion of meeting Arnold there, and about an hour 
thereafter Mrs. Arnold (good woman) inquired how 
I was from the housekeeper and bid her go and see 

190 



(that amiable lady had the Sunday evening before 
spent an hour at my bedside while I lay in a high 
fever, made tea for me, and paid me the utmost at- 
tention in my illness). No sooner had the house- 
keeper turned her back but Mrs. Arnold pursued 
her raving (sick), mad to see him, with her hair 
dishevelled and flowing about her neck ; her morn- 
ing gown with few other clothes remained on her, — 
too few to be seen even by a gentleman of the fam- 
ily, much less by many strangers. I heard a shriek 
to me and sprang from my bed, ran upstairs, and 
there met the miserable lady, raving distracted ; she 
seized me by the hand with this, to me distressing, 
address and a wild look : " Colonel Varick, haVe you 
ordered my child to be killed?" Judge you of my feel- 
ings at such a question, from this most amiable and 
distressed of her sex, whom I most valued. She 
fell on her knees at my feet with prayers and in- 
treaties to spare her innocent babe. A scene too shock- 
ing for my feelings, in a state of body and nerves 
thus so weakened by indisposition and a burning 
fever, I attempted to raise her up, but in vain. 
Major Franks and Dr. Eustice soon arrived, and we 
carried her to her bed, raving mad. I must stop this 
detail till I see you. I know no cause for all this- 

When she seemed a little composed she burst 
again into pitiable tears and exclaimed to me, alone 
on her bed with her, that she had not a friend left 
here. I told her she had Franks and me, and Gen- 
eral Arnold would soon be home from West Point 
with General Washington. She exclaimed, " No, 

igi 



General Arnold will never return, he is gone ; he is 
gone forever, there, there, there, the spirits have car- 
ried up there, they have put hot irons in his head ; " 
pointing that he was gone up to the ceiling. This 
alarmed me much. I felt apprehensive of some- 
thing more than ordinary having occasioned her 
hysterics and utter frenzy. Soon after General 
Washington returned from West Point without 
Arnold ; this convinced me all was not right. She 
soon after told there was a hot iron on her head and 
no one but General Washington could take it off, 
and wanted to see the General. I waited on his 
Excellency, informed him of all matters, and Mrs. 
Arnold's request. I attended him to her bedside 
and told her there was General Washington. She 
said no, it was not. The General assured her he 
was, but she exclaimed no, that is not General 
Washington ; that is the man who was agoing to 
assist Colonel Varick in killing my child. She re- 
peated the same sad story about General Arnold. 
Poor distressed, unhappy, frantic, and miserable 
lady. 

The next day, 26th, she recovered a little and 
remembered nothing of what happened on the 25th. 
On the 27th she left us, escorted by Major Franks, 
for Philadelphia, by leave of his Excellency. 

General Washington had by this time, 2nd, in- 
dubitable proofs of the infamous practices of Arnold. 
It was now four o'clock of the 25th and we sat down 
to dinner in a strange manner ; I had a high fever, 
but officiated at the head of the table. Franks at- 

192 



tended also when Mrs. Arnold's affairs would permit. 
Dull appetites surrounded a plentiful table. His 
Excellency behaved with his usual affability and 
politeness to me. The matter was certain. 

After dinner some time his Excellency called to me 
to take my hat and walk out with him, which I did. 
He thus declared he had the most indubitable proofs 
of Arnold's treachery and perfidy. I told him I was 
sorry for it, and he said he had not the least cause 
of suspicion of Major Franks or myself, but that his 
duty as an officer made it necessary to inform me 
that I must consider myself as a prisoner, in which 
I, as politely as I could, acquiesced. It was what 
I expected. I then told him the little all I knew. 
[The remainder of this letter is missing, and could not be 
found among Colonel Varick's papers.] 

Headquarters, Robinson's House, 
September 3, 1780. 
Dear Sir, — 

I have this moment received a letter from his Ex- 
cellency General Washington, yesterday date, which 
informs me that the enemy are in preparation for 
some important movement, and as this post may 
possibly be their object, I now call upon you in 
the most earnest manner to collect every possible 
supply of provisions for the garrison.' Our stock 

1 This letter, contrary to Arnold's practice in official corre- 
spondence, is in his own handwriting ; it seems to throw some 
light upon the charges that Arnold was trying to turn the public 
supplies into private channels, for it is difficult to see what in- 
terest he could have had in stocking up with supplies the garrison 



of salted provision is very small, — that of fresh is 
less, — and the magazine has within a few days 
been exhausted of flour to supply the main army. 
You must be sensible that our situation is truly 
critical, and if these parts are invested before a 
supply of provisions arrive, they can hold out but 
a very few days. I make no doubt you will use 
every possible exertion, tho' not strictly within the 
line of your duty. I wish you to send express to 
Chester, Warwick, and Sussex to hurry on the flour 
at those places. 

Colonel Stewart informs me that he is advised by 
Colonel Blain that there is a large quantity of rum 
at Springfield. I think it would be advisable to send 
an express to hurry it on, as the main army are 
entirely out and our stock is very small. The barrel 
of fish you mentioned to be sent to West Point never 
arrived. I should be glad of it, as well as of the 
crackers and flour. 

I am, dear Sir, your most obedient servant, 

B. Arnold 

To Mr. Stephens. 

Headqu&riers, Robinson's House, 
September 4, 1780. 
Dear Sir, — 

His Excellency General Washington informs me 

that he is apprehensive that the enemy intend to 

attack on the posts in the Highlands. When that 

which he was preparing to surrender. It may be compared with 
the written testimony of Mrs. Martin and Assistant Commissary 
Marshall in the Proceedings. — Ed. 

194 



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matter is ascertained and they appear in force, it 
is his intention to have Stony and Verplank's Points 
evacuated and the cannon royals and stores removed 
to this place, for which purpose I have by his orders 
sent down sixty flat-bottom boats with five men in 
each under the command of Captain John Denny, 
of the batteaumen, who has orders to put himself 
under your command and follow your directions. 
Whenever the enemy appear in force near your 
post, and it is clearly demonstrated to you that they 
intend an attack on these posts, you will imme- 
diately embark all the troops, stores, cannon, &c., at 
King's Ferry and come with them to West Point. 
This measure is not to be undertaken precipitately, 
or on any slight alarm ; nor neglected so long as to 
risque anything or render it difficult to execute. As 
you are on the spot you will be the best judge of the 
time proper to execute it. 

Perhaps on any movement of the enemy up the 
river it will be prudent to remove the stores to the 
landing, or put them in the boats, to be ready, so that 
no time may be lost in case the movement of the 
enemy should be rapid.' 

I am, dear sir, your obedient servant, 

B. Arnold 

To Colonel LMngston, ai King's Ferry. 

1 This order, also written by Arnold himself, should be read in 
connection with a letter of September ig, in which Arnold 
makes careful preparations to lend the appearance of military 
resistance to his proposed surrender. It does not appear that 
Washington gave any such orders as are here described by 
Arnold. — ED. 



Headquarters Robinson's House, 
September 8, 1780. 
Dear Sir, — 

Your favor of the 5th instant I received yesterday 
and am very sorry to hear you are unwell. I hope 
soon to have the pleasure of seeing you here in 
perfect health. 

From some movements of the enemy the General 
was apprehensive they meditated an attack on his 
army or their posts, which occasioned his order 
to you to take the command of the troops on 
the lines. General Schuyler, who was here two 
days since, informs me his fears on this head have 
subsided. 

Your observations on the resolutions of Congress 
I think perfectly just. I believe the army in gen- 
eral are fully convinced that their wish and inten- 
tion is to disgust and disband us in detail as soon 
as they can ; their contracted politics and little 
souls will not suffer them to admire or reward the 
virtues they cannot imitate. I believe the officers 
will unite (as soon as they know the final resolu- 
tions of Congress respecting the remonstrance) in 
some spirited measures, to do themselves justice.' I 

' The suggestion that the officers unite in a remonstrance to 
Congress on the question of half pay was subsequently attempted 
in the so called Newburgh Addresses prepared by Major 'John 
Armstrong in 1783. The suggestion is one of the most char- 
acteristic evidences of the variety of means which Arnold 
resorted to for opening up direct correspondence through the 
British lines, and may be compared with Varick's testimony 

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recommend sending a small committee of a thou- 
sand or fifteen hundred men of all ranks in the 
army to Congress to present a spirited but decent 
memorial setting forth their claims, and requesting 
immediate justice as far as the public are able. 
This measure I think would be attended with 
happy consequences to the country ; for if justice 
is not done to the army their necessities will occa- 
sion them to disband, and the country will of course 
be left to the ravages of the enemy. 

I suppose by this time you have heard of the 
unhappy fate of our Southern Army, who • — if 
their danger has not been exaggerated by the fears 
of the doughty General [Gates] — are most probably 
departed, if not totally cut off, and the Southern 
States left entirely defenceless. 

A lady of my acquaintance had some trifling 
articles purchased for her in New York by Colonel 
Webb and Major Giles about eighteen months past, 
which they could not bring out; they have lain 
there ever since with Major Giles. By her desire, 
I have some little time since requested Colonel 
Sheldon to endeavor to get them out by one of 
his flags, which he promised to do, and gives me 
encouragement of their being sent out. They will 
be in a box, or small trunk, — if they come out 
when you are on the lines, I beg the favor of you 
to take care of them and send them to me [_device 

as to Arnold's plan of correspondence with Beverly Robinson. 
Inasmuch as the letter is not included in the Proceedings of 
the court martial, it seems probable that it did not come into 
Varick's hands until later. — ED. 

197 



for getting letters from the BrtiisK]. I am told there is 
a General Order prohibiting any goods being pur- 
chased and brought out of New York, but as the 
goods were bought many months before the order 
was issued, I do not conceive they come under the 
intentions or spirit of it. However, I would not 
wish my name to be mentioned in the matter, as 
it may give occasion for scandal. 
I am, with kind regards. 

Your obedient servant, 

B. Arnold 
To General Parsons. 

Headquarters, Robinson's House, 
September 8, 1780. 
Dear Sir, — 

I do myself the honor to inclose your Excellency 
copy of a letter from Colonel Hay of the 5th inst. 
In answer to his letter I informed him that our 
force on the lines was already inadequate to the 
duty required to be done in that quarter, and that 
I did not think it prudent to withdraw the two 
companies of Malcolm's Brigade without first ad- 
vising with your Excellency on this subject ; and 
that I should inform him of the result as soon as 
I was favored with your orders.' I shall therefore 

1 This communication to Washington reveals Arnold's clever- 
ness in obscuring his real designs and warding off suspicion. It 
was part of his scheme to appear to consult the Commander-in- 
Chief and to follow his instructions implicitly as to the conduct 
of his military district. At this very time Arnold was employ- 
ing every means at his command to secure an interview with the 
British representative. — ED. 

198 






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be happy to receive your Excellency's directions as 
to this matter by the returning express. 

I have the honor to be, with every sentiment of 
regard and respect, your Excellency's most obedient 
and very humble servant, 

R[ICHARD] V[ARICK], for B. A[RNOLD] 
His Excellency, General Washington. 

Headquarters, Robinson's House, 
September I2, 1780. 
Dear Sir, — 

Your favor of the 7th conveying to me an account 
of our misfortunes to the southward was delivered 
me on the 8th. 

I am happy to find that General Gates's informa- 
tion was so ill-founded. It is an unfortunate piece 
of business to that hero, and may possibly blot his 
escutcheon with indelible infamy. It may not be 
right to censure characters at a distance, but I can- 
not avoid remarking that his conduct on this occa- 
sion has in no wise disappointed my expectations 
or predictions on frequent occasions, and notwith- 
standing the suggestions of his friends that he had 
not retreated to the borders of Virginia, he must 
have been at a great distance and pretty secure 
from danger, as he had no advices of the retreat of 
the Maryland troops for at least four days. 

Yours of the 8th by Captain Vanderhorst and 
Lieutenant McCall were delivered me by those 
gentlemen on the gth. I have endeavored to ren- 
der their situations pleasing to them, during their 
short stay with me, which respect I shall always 

199 



be happy to pay to any gentleman who entitles him- 
self to your introduction and recommendation. 

It is a matter much to be lamented that our army 
is permitted to starve in a land of plenty. There is 
a fault somewhere ; it ought to be traced up to its 
authors, and if it was [tuord anintettigibte ; see fac- 
simile] they ought to be capitally punished. This 
is in my opinion the only measure left to procure a 
regular supply to the army in future. 

Where shall I procure papers for the garrison, as 
well as my own office ? No returns can be made 
till a supply is sent. Colonel Pickering in a letter 
of the 28th informs me that he had not yet received 
the stores into his hands, or money to purchase any 
with.' 

With sentiments of the most sincere regard and 
affection, I am, dear sir, your obedient servant, 

B. A. 

To Major-Genersl Greene. 



Hendqu^riers Robinson's House, 
September 13, 1780. 
Dear Sir, — 

Your favor of the 12th is now before me. 

A variety of circumstances confirm my suspicions 

' This letter, including the signature in initials, is wholly in 
Varick's hand, presumably a draft of the communication actually 
sent. It is significant that the complaint of lack of proper blanks 
upon which to make returns of the garrison comes on the very 
day Arnold went down the river to pass through the lines, but was 
by mistake fired on by the British guard-boat. — ED. 

200 




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that my letter to Mr. Anderson was intercepted by 
the enemy, and unanswered. I was at the Block 
House at Dobbs's Ferry on Monday, agreeable to 
the mode pointed out in the letter, and remained 
there till three o'clock in the afternoon ; but saw 
no flag.' 

I am sorry to hear that Mr. Hunter can furnish 
you with no material intelligence. 

It gives me pain to know your situation, and that 
your reputation is aspersed and vilified by a person 
of Mr. Stoddard's character. I shall be happy to 
know of his being baffled in any unjust attempt of 
that kind. 

I am, with affectionate wishes. 

Your obedient and very humble servant, 

B. A. IWriHen by Colonel Varick] 

To Colonel Sheldon. 



HeiLdquAriers, Bergen County, 
14th September, 1780. 
Dear Sir, — 

I have received your favors of the nth and 12th. 
I have no objection to your sending the two pieces 
of cannon to Colonel Gouvian. 

Under the circumstances you mention, you may 
detain the men of Colonel Putnam's Regiment who 

> Nowhere in the whole history of the treason is Arnold's 
audacity better shown than in this acknowledgment to an Amer- 
ican officer that he came down to " meet Mr. Andreson." He 
does not, however, state to Colonel Sheldon that almost at the 
same moment he is writing to Anderson (Andri) to meet him 
on the 20th. — Ed. 

201 



are serving as bargemen ' to you, and if you can with- 
draw the batteaumen sent down to King's Ferry, with 
convenience, it will be a measure entirely agreeable 
to me. 

1 hope Colonel Hay's plans for obtaining a supply 
of flour from the State of New York, and his applica- 
tion to the people of the Grants, will both meet with 
success. He is a faithful and indefatigable officer. 

I am, dear Sir, 
Your most obedient and humble servant, 

George Washington ^ 

P. S. I shall be at Peekskill on Sunday evening 
on my way to Hartford to meet the French Admiral 
and General. You will be pleased to send down a 
guard of a Captain and fifty at that time, and direct 
the Quarter-Master to endeavor to have a night's 
forage for about forty horses. You will keep this 
to yourself, as I want to make my journey a secret. 

To Major-General Arnold. 

Headquarters, Robinson's House, 
September i6, 1780. 

Dear Sir, — 

Last evening I was honored with your Excel- 
lency's favor of the 14th. 

' The bargemen, whose retention Washington here authorizes, 
were afterwards very serviceable to Arnold in taking him down 
the river from West Point, when he made his escape. Washing- 
ton's visit to Hartford took him out of the way at the moment, 
which Arnold selected as opportune for consummating his trea- 
son. — ED. 

2 This is Washington's last letter to Arnold. 

202 



I have given orders for the guard requested, as 
also to the Quarter-Master to furnish forage at Mr. 
Birdsall's for the number of horses mentioned in 
your Excellency's letter. 

My answer to the questions proposed by your Ex- 
cellency relative to the Council of War I will do 
myself the honor to deliver in person.' 

I am, with sentiments of the most profound re- 
spect and esteem, 

Your Excellency's most obedient servant, 

B. Arnold' 
His Excellency, General Wasfungion. 

September 14, 1780. 
Sir,— 

In answer to your Excellency's questions proposed 
to the Council of General Officers on the 6th inst, I 
beg leave to observe, that from the uncertainty of 
the arrival of the Second Division of the French 
Fleet, as well as of their force, and from the fluc- 
tuating situation of our affairs, which may be totally 
changed in a short time by a variety of circumstances 

1 This formal letter is in Varick's handwriting. The answer 
referred to is carefully written out by Arnold himself (see fac- 
simile letter dated September 14, 1780). Although eager to see 
his Commander-in-Chief safely out of sight to the eastward, 
Arnold was obliged, as an officer of high rank, to give his advice 
with regard to the joint command with the French, which he was 
at that moment endeavoring to make wholly useless. With his 
accustomed bravado he makes use of this occasion to advise no 
concentration of troops near New York, where none knew so well 
as he they were likely to be needed. — ED. 

- This is Arnold's last letter to Washington before the treason. 

203 



which may happen, it appears extremely difficult for 
me to determine with any degree of precision the 
line of conduct proper to be observed. 

If the Second Division of the French Fleet may 
be soon expected, and their force, — of which I am 
ignorant, — will give us a decided superiority over 
the enemy, as well by land as sea, I am of opinion 
that every necessary preparation and disposition 
should be made to attack New York, — provided 
we have a sufficiency of ammunition and military 
stores, and there is a prospect when the army is 
collected of their being supplied with provisions 
(the former I doubt) ; but if there is not good rea- 
son to suppose the Second Division of the French 
Fleet with a force superior to that of the enemy 
will arrive in the course of a month, I am of opin- 
ion no offensive operations can with prudence be 
undertaken this fall against New York ; in which 
case it is possible the enemy will detach a part of 
their force in New York to join those in South 
Carolina, or to co-operate with them in Virginia 
or Maryland. I am therefore of opinion that the 
Pennsylvania line, which I suppose to amount to 
2500 or 3000 men, should hold themselves in readi- 
ness to march, and if the Second Division of the 
French Fleet does not arrive by the first of October, 
that then the Pennsylvania line should march to the 
relief of the Southern States, who with the aid of so 
formidable a regular force (if they do their duty) will 
be able to repel the enemy in that quarter ; and if 
the French Fleet should arrive too late to operate 

204 







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against New York, South Carolina may be an object 
worthy their attention. 

Without a decided superiority by sea, I am of 
opinion no offensive operations against the enemy 
can with prudence be undertaken this fall, and it 
is to be hoped that the States are by this time con- 
vinced of the necessity of immediately raising an 
army, to be engaged during the war, and that they 
will, without loss of time, take effectual measures 
for that purpose. I should suppose the Pennsyl- 
vania line might be replaced by some of the troops 
at Rhode Island, before the time is expired for which 
the militia are called out. 

I have the honor to be, with the highest respects. 
Your Excellency's most obedient and very 

humble servant, 

B. Arnold' 
His Excellency, General Washington. 

Headquarters, Robinson's House, 
September i6, 1780. 
Dear Sir, — 

Having received his Excellency's approbation of 
my proposal to send two pieces of artillery to the 
officer commanding at Dobbs's Ferry, I am to request 
that you will order two of the stocked nine-pounders 
with their apparatus complete, and fifty rounds round 
shot, and a few rounds of grape to each, to be put on 
board of one or two batteaus and sent down under 

' It will be observed from the accompanying facsimile that this 
letter is penned with great precision ; it is one of the most care- 
fully composed that ever fell from Arnold's pen. 

205 



care of a proper officer and party, to the officer com- 
manding at Dobbs's Ferry.' 

I am, with sincere regard and esteem, dear Sir, 
Your obedient servant, 

B. A. IWritien by Colonel Varick] 
To Colonel Lamb, 

Headquarters, Robinson's House, 
September ig, 1780.2 
Dear Sir, — 

I am advised by Captain Archibald, who is re- 
turned with a flag from the Vulture British man-of- 
war, that the captain thereof had informed him he 
had since his coming up the river taken up forty flat- 
bottom boats which have driven down from your 
posts and the posts above you past your water- 
guards. Captain Archibald also informs me that 
a number are lying on shore between your posts and 
Taller's [_sic'\ Point. You will please to order those 
within your power to be immediately collected, 
drawn on shore and properly secured, and pointedly 
enjoin the most proper attention and vigilance with 
respect to the boats remaining at your posts and that 

1 This order to Lamb was compelled by the fact that Arnold 
had been obliged to communicate Lamb's reasonable request to 
Washington. It was eventually the means of defeating Arnold's 
treason, inasmuch as the two guns drove the Vulture down stream, 
so that Arnold could not go on board to meet Andr6, as had been 
his first intention. — ED. 

2 Inasmuch as Arnold had now reached the resolution to bring 
a British officer on shore to confer with him at Smith's, this 
formal letter, issued in Varick's handwriting, was necessary in 
order to disarm suspicion. — ED. 

206 



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may hereafter drive down from the posts north of 
you, and punish any neglect of, or inattention to, 
your orders in this respect in an exemplary manner. 

I am also informed that the two pieces of artillery 
which I ordered to be sent from this post to Dobbs's 
Ferry were put on board of a sloop instead of bat- 
teaus. As it is probable the boat will not be able to 
go down while any of the enemy's armed vessels 
remain in the river, I think it advisable to put them 
in batteaus and send them down to the command- 
ing officer at Dobbs's Ferry the very first favorable 
opportunity. 

His Excellency informs me that Colonel Spencer's 
regiment is on its march to reinforce your post. As 
soon as that arrives you will send an equal number 
of the troops who were detached from hence in the 
batteaus, to this post without delay. 

I am, dear sir, with sentiment of esteem. 
Your obedient servant, 

B. A. [perR. V.'\ 

To Cobnel James Lt'bingsion. 

PASSES BY FLAG, TO TORY WOMEN" 

By the Honorable Benedict Arnold, Esquire, Major- 
General in the Army of the United States, 
commanding in a separate Department. 
Permission is granted to Messrs. Nathaniel Garri- 
son, Thomas Bullas, Jacob Sharpstone, and Isaac 

' These passes were the consummation of a scheme set forth 
in the Proceedings for opening communication across the lines. 

207 



Filkins, to proceed in four wagons with two horses 
each, with a flag, by the shortest route from the 
post to the nearest British post at King's Bridge; 
taking with them Mary Ham, wife of Frederick Ham, 
with three children, the eldest seven years old ; 
Lucy German, wife of Isaac German, and one child 

eight years old ; Mary Munger, wife of Munger, 

and her child, three years old ; Sarah Munger, wife 

of Munger, and her child, two years old ; and 

Elizabeth German, wife of German, with her 

two children, the eldest seven years old ; who have 
my leave to pass into the British lines where they 
the said Garrison, BuUas, Sharpstone and Filkins 
are to leave them, and return with their horses and 
wagons without delay. 

Given under my hand at headquarters, Robinson's 
House, September 19, 1780. 

By the General's Command, 

R[ichard] V[arick] 

Secretary 

Robinson's House in the Highlands, 
September 26, 1780. 

Sir,— 

You will have heard, probably before the receipt 
of this, that Major-General Arnold has gone to New 
York, and that the Adjutant-General of the British 
Army and Mr. Joshua Smith who were concerned 

They appear to have been the last official act of Arnold which 
went through Varick's hands previous to Arnold's conference 
with Andr£ on the morning of September 22d. — ED. 

208 



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with him in measures which occasioned his flight 

are both in our hands. I am desirous of seeing you 

without loss of time, in consequence of these events, 

and request that you will proceed to headquarters, 

wherever they may be, without delay.' 

I am, dear Sir, with regard of esteem, 

Your most obedient servant, 

George Washington 
To John La.'wrence, 

Judge-Ad'Docaie-General. 

West Point, 8th October, 1780. 
Dear SIR, — 

I received your favor of the gth September and 
would have been very happy if your Carolina ac- 
counts had been true, but alas ! they are (like many 
others) premature. I fully agree with you in opinion 
with respect to the result of this campaign, and be- 
lieve our swords (through necessity) will rust in the 
scabbards and that there will be few broken bones 
amongst us ; but I hope you '11 do us the justice to 
believe it is not our fault, or want of inclination to 
risque, but without the command of the Sound and 
North River, all your attempts against New York 
must be abortive. Another thing : our supplies of 
provisions must be more regular, and not an army 
starving seven days out of fifteen in the active time 
and part of a campaign, — which I assure you has 

1 This letter of Washington's, written the day after the flight of 
Arnold, is the prelude to the court-martial proceedings against 
Smith, which are referred to in the introduction to this vol- 
ume. — Ed. 

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been our unfortunate situation. Add to this the 
villainies of that arch-villain of detested memory, 
Arnold, who had sold to Clinton the important post 
of West Point, and was so nigh compleating the 
affair that the troops were actually on board the 
ships to take possession, and only waited the return 
of Major Andr6 (General Clinton's aide), who came 
up to settle the infernal plan with Arnold, and was 
fortunately taken on his return to New York, with 
maps of all the forts and approaches of West Point; 
also letters to Clinton, and Arnold's pass for his se- 
curity. He had changed his dress and left his Regi- 
mental coat at one Smith's, which brought him 
under the denomination of a spy, for which he was 
tried, and with his life has paid the forfeit on the 
2nd instant. His friend, Smith, is now under trial 
and is expected to share the same fate. Arnold es- 
caped by the stupidity of one Colonel Jameson, of 
the Dragoons, who had Andr6 in custody and per- 
mitted him to write to Arnold, though all the papers 
mentioned were in his possession, which ought to 
have induced him to order him into confinement. 
Notwithstanding which. General Washington (to 
whom he had sent an account of the whole affair) 
was within half an hour of catching Arnold in his 
quarters, and he only got off in a boat to the Frig- 
ate that lay in the river, with the clothes on his 
back, and the scoundrel was so mean as to give up 
his bargemen, whom he deceived by telling them 
he was going on board a flag of truce. But the 
British, excited by the generosity of General Wash- 

210 



ington (who let a crew of theirs that had been de- 
tained on their account at Stony Point), let all come 
away. 

Arnold has since wrote twice to General Wash- 
ington respecting himself and Major Andr6, and 
threatened both the Court and the General should 
they execute him. Also that he, Arnold, had acted 
on the same principle that had actuated him all the 
war ; that is, the general good of his country. How 
you will reconcile the idea to his conduct, I don't 
know ; but I cannot, for my life. On the whole, I 
think him one of the greatest villains that ever dis- 
graced a nation. 

We marched General Irvine's Brigade to this post 
immediately on discovery of the plot, and General 
Wayne's part of the way to reinforce us in case of 
necessity ; but all being now quiet we move the loth 
inst. towards Jersey, where the chief of the army are 
marched today, and the York troops with the Jersey 
and some others are to garrison this place. We hear 
nothing of the Second Division, or Count de Guchien 
and his fleet, and the others with the French troops 
are quite safe and quiet at Rhode Island. 

I have no other news worth your notice ; there- 
fore, now pray you, and every other worthy char- 
acter, to use your influence in raising a force for the 
war, or God knows what will be the result yet. 

You are pleased to mention, I suppose as a patron 
to the profligate army, the chaste conduct of our 
militia, whom God continue in their chastity and 
ease, and incline them to the good, and not the ruin 

211 



of the country by adding the enormous expense of 
their chaste campaigns to the already sinking burthen 
that the country groans under. 

Your friends here are very well and I suppose 
write you. 

I pray you to present my best wishes to Mrs. 
Montgomery and the young ladies and believe me 
to be your sincere friend and obedient servant, 

[Colonel] Richard Butler 

To John Montgomery, Esq- 
[Member of the Continental Congress.] 

Headquarters, near Passaic Falls, 
i6th October, 1780. 
Dear Sir, — 

I have this moment received your Excellency's 
favor of the 14th, with its inclosures. I do not think 
it at all improbable that the movements of the enemy, 
at this advanced season of the year, may have been 
upon a plan concerted to take advantage of the suc- 
cess of Arnold's treachery. General Greene, upon 
the first intelligence, ordered Gansevoort's regiment 
up to Albany. I have directed him to send either 
Weisenfelt's or Willet's regiment after them. This 
is all the force I can with propriety detach from the 
Highland posts, until the views of the enemy at New 
York are more fully ascertained. They have for a 
long time made demonstrations of an embarkation, 
but the sailing has been hitherto delayed. I, how- 
ever, hope that the troops already ordered, with the 
assistance of the militia, will be sufficient to check 

212 



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the enemy. They must depend upon the country 
for supplies, as the magazines are in a manner ex- 
hausted. Your Excellency will oblige me by keep- 
ing me advised of any further operations. 

I have the honor to be, with the greatest regard 
and esteem. 

Your Excellency's most obedient and humble 
servant. 

Geo. Washington 
His Excellency, George Clinton, Esq- 
[Governor of Nelct) York-] 



INDEX 



Anderson, John CMajor Andre), 
letter to Colonel Sheldon, 
log ; letter from Arnold to, 

102. 

Arnold, Benedict, letter to Var- 
ick, 82 ; to Governor Clinton, 
89 ; wrote " Gustavus " letter, 
102 ; letters to Colonel Shel- 
don, 106, 107, III, 200 ; to Ma- 
jor Tallmadge, 113; escape 
after discovery of treason, 
130; letter to Mr. Stephens, 
193 ; to Colonel Livingston, 
194, 206 ; to General Parsons, 
196 ; to Washington, 198, 202, 
203 ; to General Greene, 199 ; 
to Colonel Lamb, 205. 

Arnold, Mrs., innocence of, 42 ; 
interviewed by Washington, 
132 ; returns to Philadelphia, 
136. 



Benson, Colonel Robert, letter 
to Varick, 96. 

Butler, Colonel Richard, let- 
ter to John Montgomery, 
209. 

Clinton, Governor, letter to Ar- 
nold on flags, 90 ; letter from 
Washington to, 212. 

Cobb, Lieutenant -Colonel, 

2 



member Court of Inquiry, 
51- 

Dearborn, Lieutenant-Colonel, 
member Court of Inquiry, 51. 
Dyckman, Sampson, 95. 

Eustis, Dr. William, testimony 
of. 137- 

Fish, Major Nicholas, deposi- 
tion of, 65. 

Franks, Major David S., testi- 
mony of, 120. 

Greene, General Nathaniel, let- 
ter from Arnold to, 199. 

" Gustavus " letter (from Ar- 
nold, as " Gustavus " to Ma- 
jor Andre, as "John Ander- 
son " ), 102. 



Harrison, Colonel Robert, cer- 
tificate by, on " Gustavus " 
letter, 105 ; deposition, on 
Varick's behaviour, 113. 

Hart, Albert Bushnell, LL. D., 
Introduction by, 11. 

Hay, Colonel Undy, Quarter- 
master-General, 81. 

Heron, William, certificate on 
" Gustavus " letter, 99. 

15 



Knox, General Henry, deposi- 
tion of, 117. 

Lamb, Colonel John, testimony 
of, 147 ; letter from Arnold 
to, 205. 

Livingston, Colonel James, let- 
ter from Arnold to, 194, 206. 

Marshall, Samuel B., certificate 
of, 159. 

Martin, Mrs. Catherine, depo- 
sition of, 157. 

Mead, Colonel Richard K., de- 
position of, 115. 

Parsons, Brigadier-General, cer- 
tificate of, 73, 99; letter from 
Arnold to, 196. 

Paterson, Brigadier-General, 
certificate of, 75. 

Reid, Major, member Court of 
Inquiry, 51. 

Romeyn, Rev. Dyrck, deposi- 
tion of, 76. 



Scammell, Alexander, writes 
Washington's approval of 
findings of Court, 165. 

Schuyler, Major-General, letter 
to Court of Inquiry, 67. 

Scott, Hon. John Morin, Varick 
studied Law with, 65. 

Sewall, Captain Henry, deposi- 
tion of, 71. 

Sheldon, Colonel Elisha, letter 
to Arnold, 108 ; letter from 
Arnold to, in, 200. 

216 



Smith, Joshua Hett, Varick's 
suspicions of, 95 ; Arnold 
warned against, 125 ; visit to 
Arnold, 127 ; quarrel with 
Varick and Franks, 141, 172. 

Stafford, John K., certificate of, 
161. 

St. Clair, Major-General, certi- 
ficate of, 74. 

Stephens, letter from Arnold 
to, 193. 

Tripp, Henry Dome, deposition 
of, 155- 

Van Schaick, Colonel, Presi- 
dent Court of Inquiry, 51. 

Varick, John, father of Richard, 
wounded, 79 ; taken prisoner, 
80. 

Varick, Colonel Richard, open- 
ing address to Court of In- 
quiry, 54 ; joined Arnold's 
family, 62 ; oath of allegiance 
to U. S., 6g ; continuation of 
address to Court of Inquiry, 
81 ; letter to Arnold, accept- 
ing position, 83 ; to Colonel 
Hay, 85; presents evidence 
on Arnold's conduct, 88; let- 
ter to Colonel Benson about 
suspicion of Joshua Hett 
Smith, 92, 172 ; dislike for 
Smith, 123 ; suspicions of 
Arnold's perfidy, 130, 142 ; 
closing address to Court of 
Inquiry, 162 ; testimony in 
behalf of Franks, 167 ; letter 
to sister, i8g. 



Washington, arrival at Robin- 
son House, 130, 180; letter 
from Arnold to, 198, 202, 203; 
approval of Court of Inquiry- 



findings, 165 ; letter to Arnold, 
201 ; letter to John Lawrence, 
208 ; letter to Governor Clin- 
ton, 212. 



217 



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QLic Ei&ereiHc press 



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